Buying Time Book 1
by highbrass
Summary: HPXLoTR. Post HBP. Harry prepares for the battles to come, Voldemort is not idle. A new spell sends our hero to a new world to learn what true power really is. First in four book series. Irregular updates.
1. Chapter 1

Harry sighed as he sat back in his chair. He was going to have to tell the story again. The one about his life. He felt a surge of pride thinking about Kari who had just finished her first ritual in the tradition of the Potter 'Inheritance', as it had become known over the past few hundred years.

Harry now looked around fifty or so, a look that belied his actual age of just over four hundred. The only difference is the streak of shining silver hair that had started to appear over the past hundred years or so. In that time the Potter clan had flourished due to the demands that Harry had instated as the head of the family along with his wife. Every child started their training at the age of four. After swearing an oath of secrecy that they would never speak of the events outside the immediate Potter family. First they learned how to control their magic. After that, usually around the age of seven, they started learning Occlumency. Then another type of mind protection that only the Potter family knew of in this world. After that more oaths were taken in an ancient magical language swearing to never use their power for evil or selfish gains, then they studied more, learning an ancient language of magic that Harry himself learned after being tossed into another world… But this is told of later in our story.

Harry sighed as he watched Kari finish a healing ritual she had no doubt been studying for months. She stood proud after completion even though Harry knew that she was exhausted. He sat in his chair, thinking about his very own story. One very few in the world knew.

Harry looked up as he felt Kari's presence drawing closer and glanced at his watch. Nearly three hours had passed as he sat thinking. He smiled at the youth as she entered and plopped herself into another chair opposite him. The side effect to the ritual is that one would require very little sleep again. It used the energy from food to keep one awake for days on end unless the recipient decided to sleep. It was the first ritual Harry himself had used and one he found to be the most useful in all his years.

"Well, go on then Grandpa. I've been waiting eleven years to hear this story and I'm just about to the end of my patience." The little girl stated.

Harry grinned, Kari was one of his favorites. She had so much of him and his wife in her. She was already powerful, oh yes she had power in spades, but also extremely smart.

"Alright Kari, alright. I guess I need to start at the beginning of our tale. It was October 31, 1980 and James and Lilly Potter were just starting to read a story to a fifteen month old Harry James Potter…" He continued on with the events that occurred after that moment in his life. He held back most of the events with the Dursleys, still making sure the little girl in front of him knew how the three humans felt toward him and magic in general. He went over events that happened to him from first through fifth year with a practiced story teller's grace that left all listening captivated and hanging on his every word. He had been interrupted a few times and always took the time to explain what ever question the small child had. He then went onto his sixth and final year in Hogwarts until he came to the point where he had broken up with Ginny and returned to his dorm room after the funeral.

Harry continued on from there. "I didn't know what to do at that time. Now you see why you are put though such difficult training at such a young age. I never want one of my line to go though what I had to. If worse comes to worse you will all at least have a solid base to start with unlike I had. I refuse to coddle my children so much that they are ignorant of what they really are and what is going on around them. Do you understand this?"

The little girl had taken in the entire story, amazed at what Grandpa had gone though up until that time and how naïve his protectors were to think that he should be shielded. Still now she knew the reason she spent long hours studying while her friends were out playing. That's not to say she didn't have time to play. Really she had all the time she wanted and once she started to learn magic she always looked forward to the lessons. It was all a matter of time management really. "Yes Grandpa I understand. Everything makes so much more sense now. Is Voldemort the reason all of the Potters can now talk to serpents?"

"Yes and no." Harry said elusively. "He is one of the reasons. The reasons we can speak to all the lesser serpents. Snakes, lizards and the like. The larger ones are because of a different reason I believe all together. It might just be the augmentation between the two magics, I don't really know."

Kari nodded again wondering what else might have happened to allow the other family gifts to occur. It was true that all Potters since Grandpa had the ability to speak to all serpents and the wizarding worlds fearful stigmata still confused her as she thought of how much good had come of the gift her family was able to wield with such ease.

"Now to continue." Harry started the small child out of her musings. "I was laying on my bed thinking about what I needed to do. At the time I didn't stand a chance against Voldemort. He was many time more powerful than I, more so than I could even comprehend at the time. He knew more about spells and magic in general than I ever thought I would know even if I had fifty years to study without him breathing down my neck. I knew that the first thing I needed was knowledge but the information in the Hogwarts library would do nothing for me really. I needed more… more power, more spells, more time, more equipment and all those that chose to go with me were going to have to have that same skill. Until my dying day I don't think I will ever find the reason the thought seemed to just pop into my head but I jumped from my bed, grabbed my invisibility cloak and map from my trunk and tore out of the common room before anyone had a chance to stop me. All I was focused on at the time was to get to the Room of Requirement." Harry paused as a spark of realization entered the young girls eyes. "Yes I see you see where this is going. To make a long and boring time short. I was able to 'Require' the room to summon forth every book that had ever entered into that school and to separate them into the type of magic they were. Needless to say it would have taken centuries to learn all that information. So I decided to break a few more laws, I already had quite a list going, and found an ancient spell that would copy every book there onto parchment the room provided. It took about a day for the spell to copy all the books and as I gathered the parchment and left the room…it vanished." He smiled thinking back on that moment. Laughing he continued on. "I was furious at the time. Anyone who saw me storming down the halls moved away from me and anything that wasn't stone started trembling with the amount of magic that was radiating off of me. Hermione, Ginny and Ron finally calmed me down that night and made me explain things to them. They were shocked at my story and Hermione in all her wisdom started planning immediately. We didn't have any more time, which is why I was so mad. The Express was to leave the next morning. After we found our compartment Hermione laid out her plan to all of us. I will forever say that she was the smartest witch that I have ever met. Even smarter than Grandma in many ways." The little girl's brows rose at the statement.

"Anyway…"

"Put the boxes of paper over there in the corner Harry." Hermione ordered as they returned to the castle via a secret passage way. They were again in the Room of Requirement which had produced every book that had ever been in Hogwarts. Millions of books were covering thousands of rows of dusty shelves.

As the other three removed hundreds of cases of computer paper that Hermione purchased from a from a wholesale store that was near her house after they had apperated from the train station.

Ginny looked over the amount of books and shook her head. "This isn't going to work Harry. How in the world are we going to be able to carry all these around with us? Even if we shrunk them and cast feather light spells on them we could never know what they are about. We need a way to condense all of this."

"Yea Ginny's right." Ron said looking around the seemingly endless room of books. "I remember seeing some of multi books in Flourish and Blots when we went to pick up our school things last summer. Could that work?" He glanced over to Hermione who was the resident guru with anything bookish.

"It might work." Hermione said looking around. "They do just combine a certain number of books together to give an index and…"

"We know what they do Hermione." Harry interrupted before she could go into one of her long winded explanations. "What we need to know is if you know the spell or how to organize all these." Harry said waving his hands around the room.

Hermione huffed at the interruption but was side tracked by the next problem that had presented itself. "No, I don't know the incantation." She said slowly. "But I'm sure we could find it in one of these books. The problem is which one."

Three people jumped as a book 'popped' into existence directly in front of Ron. "What?" He asked at the three strange glances he was given. "We are in the Room of Requirement. I just required the right book."

Hermione gave him a calculating look that made Ron blush, Harry snicker and Ginny to fake vomit then went searching though the old tome. The rest just sat back and waited for her to figure out what to do. "Well I know why those books are so expensive now." The bushy haired girl commented not looking up from her reading. "It is a very hard incantation not to mention it takes a extremely powerful wizard to cast it. I bet the people capable of doing it make quite a bit of money for each one they do."

"So do you think one of us could do it?" Asked Ginny.

"Not any of us." She answered her friend but she wasn't looking at Ginny. Her eyes were trained on Harry who was now looking bewildered. "But I bet Harry could." She said confidently.

"Me?" Harry said quickly.

"Yea you." Ron stepped in. "Mr. I can cast a patronus at the age of thirteen that drives away a hundred dementors.

"Mr. I fought Voldemort five times and lived." Ginny followed.

"Mr. I was Dumbledore's protégé in training." Supplied Hermione. "Face it Harry, whether you like it or not you are probably one of the most powerful wizards alive now. Once we train you up a bit you will be able to face off with Voldemort."

Finally Harry sat in front of the old book and started learning the incantations that he would need. The one Hermione seemed to have him studying would create a new book for each different subject matter. That would be helpful no doubt when it came to trying to find or study what was needed.

"… and that is how we got all the books that we had to train with." Harry concluded to the little girl sitting in front of him. "It turned out well." He said as he pulled a very old, very used looking book from the shelf to show her. "See here?" Harry opened it to the first page. It showed a list of books on the page. "I don't really know how or why it happened but the incantation ended up listing the books according to complexity. Oh that saved mine and Ron's lives more times than not. Now to get the book you want you only have to press a finger to the book title."

Kari looked at the book in amazement. Her Grandpa had made this. It definitely looked like it went through a war. Actually it looked like it lived thought five or six. It had a thick leather cover and what looked like riveted steel bars on hinges to make sure that it didn't come apart. Inside had a list of book titles with a paragraph description of what the book had in it. She flipped to the next page and the next. It was the same thing. More book titles and briefings. Now however the information she saw was starting to become unknown. A few pages more and she had no idea on the subject matter. She kept flipping pages and the list of title seemed to go on and on. Flipping to the final page she read the number on the bottom of the page, 674. She gasped at how many texts must be inside that one book then looked over to the bookcase one the wall. At least ten other books looking the same with only different words printed on the spine greeted her eye.

"Yes we were quiet shocked at the sheer volume of information ourselves." Harry chuckled. "Personally I don't even thing Hermione was able to read all the information contained before she passed away. Though no doubt she tried. That woman knew more about magic than anyone I knew at the time. Since, your Grandma and I have exceeded her but it did take a century more to do it. Yes Hermione could have changed the world if she would have lived like your Grandma and I. It is a difficult burden to bare watching so many of those you love move on without you and knowing that your time is not yet up." Harry looked sadly out the window and Kari could feel the sadness in the magic that always seemed to radiate from her Grandpa.

"To continue though: It didn't take long for us to end up in the Chamber of Secrets. It was the only place we could think of that would be nearly impossible for people to find us in. Hermione immediately started in on our study schedule. I don't remember much about that, it was a very long time ago, but I do remember that I was given the task of researching wards and the dark arts." Kari gasped at that information. "Come now child, surely in your study you have seen the magics that the Ministry are calling dark." Harry shot her a slightly scathing look for her naivete. He knew she knew better than that. "As a matter of fact the ritual that you just preformed, the one that could one day save your life, only required a potion to be made and a chant, one that killed no living being or used any dead being's parts, one that is used to heal, is considered a dark art by our Ministry. They think the power it gives is false and unworldly, enhancing a wizard's ability and giving them an advantage over others that could not perform such a ritual. Balderdash! Anyone could come up with the needed materials for the ritual even after a few years of saving up and as you can see, even an eleven year old with no formal education is capable of making the potion." Harry looked intensely into the girls eyes. "Don't always acknowledge the stigmata of certain magics. It took me a long time to open myself up to the idea and many deaths of loved ones before I came to the realization that there really is no good or evil magic. It is the intent of the user that makes the magic dark or light. Now I could use nearly any light charm to cause someone's death and any dark curse to save a life. Think before you categorize something."

Properly cowed the young Kari raised her eyes to meet those of the one man she respected above all other men. Her Grandpa was her role model in life. She hadn't previously known he was so versed in both sides of magic before but now she thought she understood him a little better and maybe herself better as well. After all, Grandpa was hailed a hero of the wizarding world and if what he said was true she would have to give it more thought. Maybe even talk about what he had meant. Not now however, now she would continue listening to the story. She nodded for him to continue and received a smile in response.

"I did well with my study." Harry continued, "It seemed I was probably the only one who could use the arts but not fall to the temptation of power they held. It was the power of knowing you could end someone's life, the power to play God, that so many fall into. Of course later we found a ritual that removed the risk and completed it to ensure that none of us would fall into that trap. Still being nearly seventeen and having no discipline when it came to studying I soon found myself wondering. I mean all we did was study all day and exercise in the morning and night. Soon I found myself looking though the other books that I had. So far each of us had stuck basically to the subject matter we had agreed on, but as I was flipping though the others I found something amazing…."

Harry sat on the hard cold stone of the Chamber and looked though the new book. It was nice being able to use magic but for the love of all things magic, after only six days, he was getting cabin fever. Dropping the multi book on warding he started rummaging through his now way too small trunk for anything to do. Finding nothing he groaned in frustration and grabbed the nearest book to him. The iron bound leather only stated that it was the book on memoirs. He really didn't fancy reading about some eleven year olds crush from a hundred years ago but flipped it open anyway and started to flip though the pages. As expected many of them were from people that had been forgotten with the passage of time. He found one listing from Cho and decided that he really didn't want to read that one. He continued flipping the pages for anyone that might catch his eye. A name with a large summary caught his attention and he quickly flicked back a few pages to get a better look at it. What he found shocked him to the core. There in front of him was the recorded memories and thoughts of one Godric Gryffindor. Numbly and without thinking his finger pressed the name and the book pages started flicking back of their own accord. He blinked. When he opened his eyes again the leather bound book was now on the first page of Godric's diary.

…_I have been told by one of my dearest friends that I should start a collection of memories and knowledge in the written form of a diary. Personally I don't really know why this is needed when what ever needs to be taught could be done by using the same books I did or by finding a master to study under. However my friend is very wise and I have found he doesn't ask someone for something unless he has a reason for it. Over the years I have come to trust his judgement more than any other. I should say that he is my role model, the one magic user in the world that I look up to. I believe the same goes for all my friends. I have found that he is impossible to dislike for long periods of time. God knows that he has infuriated me on more than one occasion but as I thought about it later I realized that he was correct or I could at least see his point of view. _

_Hogwarts has just been created and without him it would not have been possible. Still for some reason he did not want to be included as an official founder. Salazar and I found this incredibly strange as my mentor was the one to provide the funds to enable us to build this fine school of magic. The school is being based on four houses, one for each of the founders, however he seems to be the embodiment of all that is great in each of us. To my great pride he is the bravest and most courageous man I have ever known. His skill in battle is unsurpassed. He is crafty and cunning though. I have never seen him allow his anger and rage to lead him into a hasty move. Even when his love was taken by the Dark Witch he still was able to think clearly and rationally like Salazar would have. He is wise beyond even Rowena and has a love of knowledge that threatens to surpass her. Though he is the most steadfastly loyal friend anyone could ask for. He is not afraid to use any magic. As a matter of fact that seems to be my biggest concern and has caused us many disagreements as he continues to side with Salazar in the matter of magic. He then will turn around and anger Salazar with undeniable logic as to why any magic user should be welcome and not scorned…_

Harry's eye's popped as he read the journal entry. Another founder? One that was even more skilled and powerful then even the founders? Good lord, what else could be in this book that would turn Harry for a loop. Foregoing his previous cabin fever he delved back into the book.

Hours seemed to pass by and the house elves brought lunch before Harry found another entry that really dropped his jaw.

…_It has come to my attention that there are those who believe that my power and the power of my peers here in Hogwarts was a natural occurrence. I nearly scoffed at my mentor as he brought this up at dinner tonight. How could anyone be as powerful as myself, Salazar, Rowena, Helga or our Mentor without the use of enhancement rituals. True it is not in the basic curriculum for the reason that so many are dangerous and could end a life if done incorrectly. None of us feel the need for our students to risk their lives when they may not want to or without the supervision of a parent. It is not our place to force our will onto those of the next generation. Yes we have helped many parents and children with rituals that might have been beyond their grasps but never taught in Hogwarts. Personally I have undergone nearly twenty rituals. None have required a living sacrifice…well at least not a human. I believe Salazar has preformed nearly thirty now along with one he made that allows him to converse with snakes. Personally I don't see his fetish with those things. Yes that basilisk of his is useful from time to time with potions and such as well as a very promising defense if ever needed but bbbrrrruuuu… the thing gives me the willies and when Sal is conversing in it, well it is by far the most spine crawling experience I have ever had. Thank God we got him to put it in that secret chamber under the school. At least now it can patrol and keep the school safe without being seen by the students. Lord knows one of the more foolish, probably one of my Gryffindor's, would be stupid enough to try to look it in the eye…_

"NO FUCKING WAY!" Harry yelled as he read the passage.

"Harry, language!" Hermione scolded across from him.

Harry never even acknowledged her though as he continued to stare at the page in front of him. All the information he just learned was threatening to overwhelm him. The founders used rituals to gain their power, they all knew about the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk he had killed. The bloody thing was a security measure and used for potions ingredients.

"Harry are you alright?" Ginny asked as Harry hadn't moved for the past fifteen minutes. Hermione was looking at him strangely as well. Still he didn't answer.

"Harry? Harry!" Ginny yelled. Still no response. She walked over and looked at what he was reading and quickly realized it was probably not anything on wards or dark arts. Walking around to his front she knelt down and placed a hand on each side of his face. Lifting his eyes to meet hers she again asked what was wrong.

"Did you know that Gryffindor wrote a journal while here in Hogwarts?" He asked his gathered friends.

"Did he?" Hermione jumped up and ran next to Harry as she realized what he was reading. Soon all four were crowded around the book reading it.

It didn't take long for the information to be read and thought through.

"Well, this might change a few things." Ron stated still in shock. It wasn't every day that you leaned about the fifth founder and all that happened.

"They all knew that the basilisk was down here." Ginny said in bewilderment.

"That's all interesting and everything but lets think about the practical aspects of this." Harry said above the din. "The founders all, ALL, preformed rituals to become what they were, to become as powerful as they were. Godric said he had done twenty or so, they couldn't have all been power enhancing." Harry thought for a little more. "Alright" He muttered to himself "I'm going to start looking for rituals to do." He stated to his friends. "I should have thought of this before. How many wizards are as powerful and Dumbledore?" Harry asked his friends, seemingly out of no where. He didn't wait for an answer. "Only Riddle and that's only because of rituals that he admits to doing. I'm betting that Dumbledore did the same to defeat Grindewald as well. It should have been obvious that it would be a mathematical impossibility for four, well five, such powerful mages to be in the same country at the same time. Okay Hermione, I'm going to read some more of the journal to see if it gives any hints on where to start with rituals then I'm going to start researching them. I'm going to do a few." He said with conviction. Ron seemed to agree and nodded along.

Hermione worried her hands together thinking. "But they are suppose to be dangerous. If you mess up the magical backlash could hurt you, even kill you with most of the more powerful ones." She stopped her worrying and seemed to come to a conclusion. "No. No we won't be doing any of those. It's just too dangerous. We don't need to risk it. We only need to keep studying like we have and we will eventually be able to fight better than any death eater and then we could gang up on Voldemort."

Harry turned on her livid. "If you want to be a complete fool and ignore an entire branch of magic then suit you self." He hissed sounding much like a snake. "Don't, however, expect me to follow your foolishness and don't even begin to think that you can keep me from choosing my own path." He glared at the girl thinking it was about time for her to realize that she was not his guardian and that if he chose to take the risk the rituals involved then that was his choice.

"Oh you think so?" Hermione glared back. "If you decide to go down that path of darkness then I will ensure you don't make it far. What do you think would happen if Mrs. Weasley found out you were performing rituals to increase your power?"

Harry closed his eyes and took a calming breath then snapped his eyes open again. It was the first time that the other three in the room realized why he was the Chosen One, Voldemort's equal. Green eyes glowed with power and rage, magic filled the air around him, his ebony locks fluttered as if he was riding a broom and every stone in the massive chamber shook as the power kept getting stronger. When he opened his mouth to speak it was no more than a whisper but it was easy to hear, like he was speaking more into her head then speaking. "If you choose to do that I will have no choice but to remove you and any one that chooses to follow your views from this chamber. I will continue on alone if I have to. I will remove every memory of you ever knowing me from your mind and leave you to your own devises. I have a job to do, a destiny to fulfil and by God I'm going to enjoy being the one who splatters Riddle's brains across the field of battle. Make no mistake Hermione, none what so ever, if you get in my way, be prepared to be run over. You have no rule over me or the others here. We each make suggestions and we each act on those suggestions in the way we feel most benefits us."

Hermione, indignant, stormed away and into a side tunnel. The other three could see the tears falling as she left.

"What was that all about Harry? You can be a right bastard. She was just trying to look out for you." Ron yelled and took off after her.

"What about you Gin. Going to give me your point of view?" Harry sat back down still with he air of power around him.

"No, I think you're right. This whole week she's been trying to make herself the leader. Like this is some silly study session. I don't think she realizes that this is a matter of life and death."Harry nodded and turned back to his book.

"Where did you find that anyway Harry?" Ginny asked before he could get back to his reading.

"Oh, look for the multi book for memoirs. There are a ton in there. I bet if you looked hard enough you might find the one you wrote to Tom. I found Cho's but didn't feel like reading it. I bet you could get some juicy stuff on Malfoy and other deatheaters though."

"I think I might just do that. All this studying is giving me a headache. I just don't think we were made to cram this much into our heads at one time."

"You know Gin, I remember there being an entire multi book on rituals. That must mean there are thousands of them. Maybe there are ones to help you learn faster." Harry's eyes lit up as he stared at Ginny, mouth agape. "Just think Gin, there could be a ritual for all sorts of things, medical, health, maybe for studying and learning. I bet there's all sorts of subject." The implications reach both of them rapidly and they both smiled and jumped to each of their trunks to look for the leather and iron bound book.

"Ginny and I spent the next two weeks reading though every book in the index and there were surprisingly many. It seems that many of the rituals made came through Hogwarts at one time or another. Probably to get a teacher's thought regarding it. Even some extremely dark ones. Hermione and Ron didn't talk to us the entire time. Ginny and I became close again as two young people do when confined the way we where and still holding feelings for each other. Still by the end of the month the Chamber had changed dramatically. We were able to expand the Chamber and use the rock to transfigure what we needed. We ended up turning the thing into a huge flat. The walls and ceiling were smoothed out. We each had our own room with a only a curtain divider separating the bed from the rest of the flat. Hell a month of living together with no place for privacy had forced us to get over our childish bashfulness regarding our nude forms. Still it was easy to tell that each of us were attracted to the others of the opposite sex. I mean Hermione was a beautiful girl and so was Ginny and at Seventeen, or there about, anything with tits and ass would turn us on." Harry stopped and turned around. Kari was staring open mouthed and as red as could be. "Hum, yes, you probably didn't need to know about that. Needless to say after more than a year living together we knew each other…extremely well. It was odd with Ron and Ginny but being purebloods it didn't seem to bother them too much."

"Anyway by the end of the month we had the place deck out with everything we would need to make ourselves comfortable. Hermione had come around to my way of thinking after showing her some of the different rituals and the possible results and we ended up with two ritual chambers. Those are the same ones you will be using later if you need to perform a ritual at school. I don't want you to unless absolutely necessary and not at all until you are in fourth year but if you really need one done owl me or Grandma and we will come and help you."

"What rituals did you do Grandpa?" Kari asked.

"Well the first one was the same you just did. A healing, or really a rejuvenating, ritual. It turns food into energy so we no longer need to sleep if we have an extra meal. If we are cut it stops the blood flow. The cut seals quickly leaving only a fine scar. The healing speed depends on the depth or severity of the cut. It is a major health ritual that really encompassed around ten or so lesser rituals. It was odd as it was probably easier than the others that did less for you. I kept with the health rituals after that. I needed much more work done on me. I preformed a ritual to repair my eyes. It used two clear diamonds and gave me the ability to see better at night and to detect heat signatures if I want to. That's how I can see people under invisibility cloaks, well one way at least." Harry smiled mysteriously. "After that, one to remove my unhealthy looks I got from not eating much at the Dursleys. That filled me out and I actually grew a few inches because of it. It was rather painful as my muscle mass, bones and internal organs fixed themselves."

"I would recommend you do all these at some point in time. Even though you were raised in a loving environment you never know what might be fixed. It corrects any genetic defect. It would have fixed my eyes but I wanted the other abilities the other ritual afforded me. Let's see, after that I started performing strength enhancing rituals. This was all done as we were learning other things as well by the way. The first strength enhancing was done with were-wolf blood." Harry laughed remembering the events. "We of course had to leave the Chamber multiple times to get what we needed for the rituals. Hermione was full on with us by that time. Still we had made sure that we were not found our seen. When I found Remus he nearly killed me for disappearing like I did. It took hours to convince him we were safe but he gave me four vials of his blood without batting an eye. Tonks gave us some as well. It was a requirement in a ritual that would unlock any hidden talents and list them for us. We really doubted anything would show up being as how we were over the age that we should have seen abilities at that time. Still we thought it would be a good idea. She almost didn't give it to us but Remus convinced her. You already know the risks involved regarding a wizard's or witch's blood."

"After that I think I completed three strengthening rituals. The first was to get the strength of a were-wolf, the second the speed and third the quickness. We ended off with one that increased our stamina. I won't go into details but that little adventure had us breaking international laws that I could still get in trouble for if anyone found out. So with the added strength and quickness we started learning self defense. Somewhere along the line a book on street fighting came into our possession. It was dirty and concentrated on crippling an opponent in one or two blows so it was perfect for us to learn. After nine months we were pretty good at breaking bones."

"The rituals though were just about to come to an end for anything that wasn't involving power enhancement. We thought about performing some for wand concealment, where our wands actually moved to another dimensional space that was located in our arms but it was extremely complicated and we decided to wait for that one. We did do a few rituals on our wands and selves so only we could use our wands, summon them back to us yadda yadda yadda. So we had done about ten to twelve by that time. We had been there nearly a year by this time. We each were very versed in our chosen fields of study. Hermione found a very dark core enhancing ritual but it seemed the fastest way to gain the power we would need to fight and things were starting to get pretty bad in the real world. We knew that it was going to come time soon when we would need to start the search for Voldemort's horcurxes."

Harry looked at the girl as she gasped. "I see you know what manner of magic these are." She nodded. "I worry about what you are reading to where you would come across this type of magic?"

"I didn't read it any where Grandpa. I heard the term one day and I asked Momma about it. She just told me what they were and the purpose of them. They are truly dark."

"Yes they are one of the most evil magics ever invented. They are evil in every way. They can only be made by spilling innocent blood. For instance I couldn't make one by killing an enemy in battle or executing a prisoner."

"Voldemort made himself six horcurxes. Two had already been dealt with. The Diary in my second year and the ring that Dumbledore found. We knew that one was Voldemort's snake, or at least thought we knew. Another was Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket. There was one more that was unaccounted for. We needed to start and soon though. We had used our time wisely and thought that any traps that surely guarded them could be overcome with all our knowledge."

"Before we left we were going to do two power enhancing rituals. The first matured our magic, making it stronger, more concentrated, more tempered and stable. Just so you know any power enhancing ritual hurts like something that you will never understand until you do it yourself. Next year you will be obligated to do this one as part of your Inheritance. The second one well…"

"Harry are you sure we should be doing this?" Hermione asked for what seemed like the thousandth time. "I don't feel right about doing this."

"Will. You. Shut. UP!" Harry hissed snapping at her. They were hidden in some bushes on the edge of a property. Harry had a 'vision' of where the next attack was going to be and he knew some important and powerful deatheaters would be here. "You can do what ever you want but don't try to stop me. Do your part and dispatch your DE and apperate to the rendezvous spot. Whether you take yours with you or not I don't care. Regardless this will be the last night they will see."

Much had changed in the year they had been in seclusion. Harry had continued reading Gryffindor's journal and had changed many of his views on the current war. Godric had by then fought in three wars himself while at the school and been taught lessons that Harry was going to make sure he didn't repeat. The main on was in war people die. The deatheaters were terrorizing the country killing, raping and pillaging at will it seemed. It was time to strike back. The idiots at the Ministry were still trying to apprehend the 'criminals' and no sooner than a group of ten or more were captured then they were broken out again.

Harry looked at his team. Hermione was worrying about what they were about to do. It had taken long debates and many fights before she finally agreed with Harry. Since they had no way of holding prisoners they had to do the only thing they could to remove them from the battles to come. Ron had a kind of lost look in his eyes but his face was hard. Harry thought he was probably thinking about what they were going to do with the captured prisoners after this was all over. Ginny looked fierce and Harry felt himself getting hard just looking at her. God she was sexy when she was like this. He reached over and rubbed her ass. She smirked at him and looked at Harry Jr. waving hello back to her. 'Later' she mouthed and resumed her lookout.

Dragging his mind back to matters at hand he looked at his watch. "They should be here in ten minutes. Get to positions. Take them down hard and fast. We have no room for errors. Alright get to it." Three bodies ran across the yard to other pieces of cover faster than a human should have been able to. Harry himself was shaking with anticipation. It wasn't long until the 'pops' of apperation were heard not to far from the front of the house. Over time it seemed that caution was lost to the arrogance of the deatheaters. Six people draped in black robes and white masks sauntered up the walk. Three of them already had erections clearly visible thinking about what they were going to be doing in a few moments. It disgusted Harry to no end thinking that if he hadn't had this vision one of his friends from back at school would have been raped and killed tonight. Sure he didn't really like Cho any more but he had no wish for this to ever happen to the poor girl.

The six deatheaters stopped just feet from the front door at the ward line for the house, they were only a few meters from Harry and his friends. As the first one lifted his wand to break the wards, Harry's group jumped out firing curses as they came. Four immediately went down screaming. Harry turned his wand to another and murmured his favorite curse. Lightening erupted from his wand causing a great clap of thunder. The figure in front of him through up a hasty shield only blocking the curse partially. The deatheater was never ready for the physical attack that followed half a second later. Striking with his foot, the deatheater's knee collapsed in the wrong direction. Screaming in agony the deatheater fell to his side. He was silenced as Harry kicked him in the temple knocking him out.

Surprisingly the final deatheater was still battling it out trying to get out of the apperation wards they had set up as they arrived. Ron and Ginny had already moved to cut off the escape. Harry quickly stunned the five fallen deatheaters then moved behind the final one while it was occupied. He couldn't tell if it was a male of female. It was nearly impossible to tell with the cloaks and masks. As the deatheater retreated Harry murmured 'Sectum Sempra'. The deatheater never knew what happened as it fell to the ground with a gouging slash of the air sword left its mark. A quick 'Stupefy' later and blood clotting charm and all were accounted for.

Harry quickly grabbed the one that dueled so well as well as a second. Ron did grabbed his, Hermione hers and Ginny grabbed the last two. In a minute the battle was over and with four rather loud 'POP's the grounds were clear once again. Minutes later four people poured from the house with wands held tight. They could see the blood on the ground and the obvious signs of a fight but no one was there any longer. The family moved back into the house to call the aurors and report what had happened.

It had taken a lot of effort but the group made it back to the Chamber without being caught. Six injured and stunned deatheaters accompanied them. They bound each and removed their clothing to ensure that they couldn't escape. The wands were snapped, cores removed and wood tossed in the fire. After all it was foolish to waist a perfectly good ingredient. The clothing was removed and anything of value was taken. Mostly it was just gold but quite a sum, then the clothing too was burned and the tale-tell sizzle and popping of interrupted magical objects were heard as they were destroyed. Finally with each of them bound and silenced they were forced onto the wall with sticking charms and frozen in place.

Harry finally went down the row and 'envenerated' the prisoners. They slowly came to, pain still showing in some of their eyes. Only Ron's and Hermione's were taken out without excessive force.

"Well it seems we have ourselves a few stray deatheaters." Harry said to gather all their attention.

After the obligatory struggle to free themselves one turned and started to speak only to find that he couldn't. Three of them had been males as was easy to see now and the other three obviously females.

Harry continued, "As you can see your in a pretty tight spot. You have nothing on except your masks and are pretty much at our mercy right now. Why don't we see who we have here." Harry waved his wand and the first of the masked figures were exposed. He frowned as did the rest as the face of Dean Thomas was revealed. Anger showed on Ron's and Ginny's faces and Hermione looked like she would cry. Harry just shook his head.

The next one ended up being a girl from Ravenclaw that had graduated a few years before. She was on the quidditch team. The next was a surprise as the mask was removed to reveal the face of Agustus Rookwood, the Department of Mysteries worker that turned during the first war and Harry and his friends had battled in the Ministry. Harry smiled as he saw that this was the one he had broken the leg of. The next deatheater wasn't one any of them knew of. She did seem rather powerful though, they would soon find out for sure. As Harry removed the next one Ron cheered. For none other than Draco Malfoy was uncovered. Malfoy sneered at Harry and started trying to speak only to be ignored.

"He's mine Harry." Ron said with some excitement.

"Feel free to have him. Personally with all the inbreeding that his family has done I doubt you will get much out of him." Harry replied, causing Ginny and Hermione to smirk. Harry sighed, at least Hermione was putting up a good front while she was with the prisoners. That was the most he could ask of her.

The final mask was removed to reveal the insane eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange. If looks could kill Harry would be dead by then. She was the one that Harry had slashed the back of and he felt satisfaction that he had caused her such pain.

Staring at her he could see that she had gained much of her figure back from Azkaban. She was a looker ever at her age and it seemed both his and Ron's bodies reacted accordingly. "She's mine." Harry stated and the rest nodded, knowing the pain the bitch had put Harry through.

"I get Dean." Ginny stated. The rest agreed. Having dated the guy it was a real slap in the face for her.

"I'll take her." Hermione said pointing to the Ravenclaw who was now shaking and crying. Harry was disgusted with her. She would willingly do it to others but when her turn came she couldn't take it.

"What do we do with the 'Spares'? Ron used the last word or purpose. Harry had told them the entire story of what happened in the graveyard after the tri-wizard tournament ended and thought it was only fair to play by the same game.

"I'll use one. I'll do the ritual a second time." Harry said thinking

"Is that safe?" Hermione asked

"I think so. I'll check, but it only takes a week for the new magic to settle. I'll give it another to make sure though. I'll check though to make sure." Harry replied.

"I'll help you. Ginny, if it's safe you should do it again as well." Hermione replied. Ginny only nodded still staring at the captives.

"Listen up you deatheater scum." Ginny started. "Normally we would have just killed you all. This time we have a special treat for you though. You see you are the guest of honor in a ritual we are going to perform. What we are going to do is strap you to a table and suck every…last…drop….of magic from your bodies and transfer it to our own. You should be happy you were chosen for such a momentous occasion. For you are going to give us the power we need to ensure we can kick every deatheater's ass when we fight them."

The looks that the young girl were received were truly comical to Harry. Even Bellatrix looked like she would loose an eye. Malfoy actually started crying and pissed himself.

"When do you want to start?" Ron asked

"We should wait until morning to make sure we have everything ready." Hermione replied. "We can only do two at a time. So Me and Harry while you two guard the prisoners then you two the next morning."

"Well let's find out how much power each of you have." Harry sung acting quite chipper and excited, which he was. It was a spell they leaned in the Gryffindor journal that measured the power of the person's magic on a scale from 0 - 100, 100 being the most powerful someone should be naturally. It would read above 100 if rituals were preformed by the person or they were just naturally very strong. Starting down the line Harry was surprised by some of the numbers. Dean was a high 68, that was pretty good without having his magic matured yet. It would have probably gone up to the high seventies if he hadn't made a stupid mistake and became a deatheater. The Ravenclaw was 53. Rookwood was an unsurprising 139. Being part of Voldemort's first rise and part of the DoM he was sure to have done a few power rituals himself. It was just a shame that they couldn't siphon his memories.

'I'm going to have to see if there's a ritual for occlumency and legilimency later.' Harry thought to himself.

Malfoy showed at a measly 63, lower than a half-blood like Dean which Ron made sure to point out to the bigoted pureblood. The unknown female scored an impressive 94. She had probably preformed at least a ritual herself and finally Bellatrix scored and impressive 179. Harry would have thought no less of Voldemort's top lapdog.

"Since we know yours it's only fair for you to know ours." Ginny smiled sweetly at the prisoners. She waved her wand over herself. The number 92 stood out proudly. She smiled. Hermione did the same and the numbers 81 showed. She smiled a truly nasty smile toward Malfoy who looked sick. Ron's score was a 84 and finally Harry waved his wand. In stark fiery numbers 169 showed up.

Ron gaped a little at this and then turned his smile to the captives. "You know and this is all before we augment our magic. All we did so far was mature it."

After stunning the six deatheaters again and leaving Ginny and Ron to keep watch Harry and Hermione went to the chambers they would be using the following morning. They made sure the pain relieving potion was there along with some water to drink. A bone knife that had been made from one of the ribs of the basilisk was required for the ritual as well as a bowl of their own blood under stasis so it wouldn't go bad. The final thing was a piece of paper listing all the runes they would have to draw on the victim's body and where. They had been practicing long and hard for this moment and only Hermione knew what the runes meant, that being one of her fields of study, but Harry was able to memorize them all and know where to put them.

The next morning came quickly. Harry quickly retrieved Bellatrix from the wall and floated the still stunned witch into the ritual chamber. It seemed that Hermione was still asleep as there didn't seem to be any other missing deatheaters. After securing Bellatrix to the stone table he removed her bindings and canceled all the spells on her. She was now secured to the table the muggle way. A scream of rage left her mouth and Harry quickly stuffed and old sock from Vernon in it to muffle the sound. Taking the bone knife Harry made deep cuts along all the major pulse points. The screams of pain rose as he cut the main veins in her body spilling crimson blood all over the table. A quickly chanted spell and the blood flow stopped but the cuts remained. Harry smiled that everything was working correctly so far. He looked into the eyes of his godfather's killer and smirked at the pure fear that now resided there. It seemed that she didn't think they would do what they said the night before. He then set to the task of drawing the runes all over her body in his blood. He started on her forehead and worked down her neck, under her arms and around her breasts, around her nipples and down her toned stomach, between her legs and around her sex, down both arms and legs and her feet and hands. Finally he removed the gag, as she was going to scream Harry froze her mouth open.

"Thanks for the help there Bella." Harry said as he again grabbed his bone knife. He used a pair of clamps to grab her tongue and carved a rune in the center. A choked howl of pain came around the swelling muscle. Harry removed the spell after he finished.

"I'll do what ever you want Potter. Anything. I'll be your slave. I'll satisfy you every night. I'll fight as your right hand. I will give you power and gold. Anything just stop this. Please stop this." She begged.

Harry looked at her for a long moment. "How many times have you laughed in the face of those who said the same to you. No you chose your path when you took that damning mark, now suffer for it. I guess there are worse things than death. Remember Dumbledore saying that to you master in the Ministry. Like feeling all your magic ripped from your body and then your body aging years in the next seconds. You will feel it shriveling and then die as a muggle." The witch screamed again which was becoming difficult with the swelling of her tongue. She begged him to spare her.

"Don't worry Bella." Harry said after he double-checked the runes he had placed. "I will send you back to Tommy boy after I'm though with you. Grant it, it will be in five pieces but still you will be with your beloved master once again."

This only set the witch to crying and yelling all the more.

Stripping, Harry took the bone knife and moved to straddle the prone form. He started chanting an archaic language. With every chant the magic in the air grew stronger. Blood started streaming from the wounds once again, swirling around the two. The runes drawn over her body glimmered and sparkled. Harry continued chanting until the air was saturated with magic. He could nearly taste in. The coppery tang of blood could be smelt easily. Gripping the bone knife with both hands he raised it above his head and chanted the next verse. The blood circling the two drove itself into the bone turning it red as waves of magic poured into it. Harry realized the magic was coming from Bellatrix and she was still screaming as the magic was being ripped from her body. Finally, shouting one last word, Harry plunged the knife into her heart. The woman screamed in the ultimate pain as blue and crimson magic flowed from all parts of her body and into the knife. More and more came as the body below him started wasting away. Finally as Bellatrix couldn't scream any longer and blood flowed from her mouth, the magic stopped coming. Harry removed the knife and could see that the woman was still alive. Insane eyes watched as her magic was drawn from her and then Harry plunged the knife into his own heart. This time the opposite happened. The blue and crimson magic flowed from the knife into all parts of his body. Harry didn't know how long it lasted but it seemed like forever and just when he didn't think he could hold any more it finally stopped. He had screamed his throat raw and as Bellatrix saw all her magic flow into her Master's sworn enemy she finally died knowing that she had just helped in the defeat of her Lord.

As the magic stopped flowing though the blade it sprang from his chest and slammed against the stone wall shattering into a million pieces. Harry looked down at his chest and now saw a thin scar that was rapidly disappearing. In it's place a strange tattoo started to appear. It was a symbol to the crime he had just committed. As the Tattoo materialized he noticed it was a golden griffin that looked to be leaping out of his chest. It's mouth was open in a silent roar of rage. In one of it's front claws he held a glowing blue and crimson orb. It's feathered wings were raised as is looked to be ready to take flight, the peaks of the powerful wings were nearly touching as the reached the zeinith of the wing beat.

Harry stumbled off the table feeling as if he had used every ounce of energy he had. The pain wracking his body was almost too much as he reached for the pain potion. After shooting down the vile concoction he did feel much better but still moved over to the bottles of water waiting for him. It felt as if he had yelled off an entire layer of skin which was entirely possible with the amount of pain he was in moments ago. That was so much worse that the Cruciatus. After finishing with the water Harry stumbled out of the ritual room and shuffled to his bed. He fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

The smell of food brought Harry from his slumber. Blurry eyes looked out into the large flat to see Ginny singing as she grilled some sort of steak. He could smell the potatoes cooking as well. It was the best they could do as the elves couldn't reach the Chamber but they had everything they needed ready for them when they visited once a week. All that needed to be done was to cook it. The smell of the cooking meat was divine and the knotting of his stomach told him he had been out of it for a while now.

"How long was I out?" He asked as he made his way over to her.

"Good your up. We were getting worried. You finished the ritual yesterday morning. You've been asleep for nearly two days now. This is our midnight dinner." The group had forgone sleep after the first ritual to make sure they had plenty of time to study. It just seemed lazy to sleep when they weren't even tired after they ate another meal. In essence it gave them another nine or ten hours a day to study and practice. It did feel strange to wake up again.

"How's Mione?"

"Oh she didn't do the ritual. By the time she woke up you were already well into yours and we could hear Bellatrix's screams. It was so loud that I think she made a few of the firsties upstairs piss their pants. After taking that unknown lady into the ritual chamber Mione found she couldn't concentrate well enough. She was just about to cast silencing charms around when you started screaming." The young redhead looked intensely at the ebony haired man. "Then you started screaming. It was different though. We could tell you were in pain, so much pain, but the power behind it was staggering. We waited to make sure you where alright so Mione didn't start her's yet. It pretty much scared the living tar out of us though. Is it really that painful?"

Harry looked at her knowing that he couldn't lie. "Yea, it hurts. Worse than the Cruciatus does. Still I plan on doing it again."

They fell into a silence, each thinking about different things.

"Do you think I should do it?" Ginny finally asked as she worried her bottom lip.

"Yes, definitely. It is only painful to you for a minute or so and you can get the only scary part done in one second of determination. I think that each of you should do it. Maybe just one at a time though to make sure everything works out alright and all."

"Yea, your right as always." Ginny smirked, "You did make the captured DE's nearly go insane with fright. I even think they canceled classes in the castle to try to find out what was going on. It really was that loud. We've already received reports you and Bella were heard all the way to Hogsmead."

"It certainly felt like it when I finished. I'll tell you though, I'm glad we did that dark art immunity ritual earlier. I could definitely see how the magic we are using could become addictive and we start abusing it. Thankfully we don't have to worry about that now though."

"I spent the next two days regaining my strength." Harry mused to Kari. "We continued on with the rituals at a slower pace. Now that I was awake and well, Mione did the ritual to the unknown woman. That time we made sure to cast silencing wards on the roof and walls so the sound would only escape into the flat area. We made sure the prisoners heard the screams. We were ruthless Kari. Seeing friends and loved ones die can do that to you. We turned just as heartless as the deatheaters were. Anyway, Ginny ended up using Rookwood and Dean and Ron, Malfoy. I had spent that time gathering parts to another ritual that I was going to perform soon and was already studying for. I was trying to find a different magical focus than just a wand. Something that could help physically in a battle. I didn't really want a sword or a knife as a focus, that's not to say that I didn't think of using one as an off hand weapon, and ended up deciding on a staff like the mages of old use to have. It was extremely difficult. Staffs are made differently from wands. A staff has to be made custom for the user. What makes it so hard is the shear volume of ingredients I needed to collect that could end up as part of it."

"The ritual was one that the founders had gotten from their Mentor, for the knowledge of how to make one had been lost for centuries even at that time. No one knows how he found the information and Godric had fumed for pages about it. When it came to weaponry he could be nearly as determined to learn how to make and use them as Rowena could get with her many books." Harry laughed out right thinking back to that. "Anyway, it's not really a ritual per se, more of a potion and spell combination, throw in a splash of alchamy, some divination, rune work and arithmancy, well you get the point. The potion was for divining. Nothing like most of the seers now days. It wouldn't tell the future or anything like that, but with the spells and everything, it could pick out what was the best to use. There was a catch, the maker had to get all the parts that would be chosen from. That means that if I wanted the best conductor of my magic I needed to get as many magical items together as possible. I thought that was all there was to it at the time. I was wrong. So much more goes into using a staff, but I will get to that later."

"While the other were doing the power ritual, I spent most of my first week searching the forest and grounds of Hogwarts for anything that might be magical. I got hairs and feathers from hundreds of magical creatures and I tried to vary how I got them, freely given or by force. I made sure to say away from the real dangerous parts of the grounds until I had my magic back under control. After that I traveled for three weeks strait, usually going to fifteen or twenty places in a day, collecting any and everything that I could get my hands on that might make a good core material. By the end of my time I had thousands of veils containing some of the rarest substances on earth."

"When I returned I told my friends what I had done and told them that I would gladly give them what ever didn't match to me as a peace offering. Needless to say they were livid with me for just leaving with no explanation of where I had gone. I had gone on a rampage. In Africa I slew a Nindu. In Russia I fought a small clan of vampires. I took hair, fangs and blood from them before I killed them all. In Romania I found that stadistic Horn Tail that I had to fight for the tournament and took her heart, fangs, blood and hide. Most creatures and people were very helpful though after they found out who I was. Gabrielle, the girl I helped during the Tri-wizard, donated some hair and blood as well as quite a few other veela in the area. Remus got a whole lot of were-wolves to donate. Tonks helped with her hair. For most other things I captured creatures and put them in a stasis egg for safe keeping. I didn't know what part I was going to use but I didn't want to kill anything I didn't have to."

"On my way back I even stopped by a magical leather worker I had met from Germany who agreed to make a few things out to the dragon hide for me in return for helping him out with a little critter infestation he had. So I told him what I wanted and he agreed. I gave him most of the hide and then left with an approximate date to return."

"That next week I preformed the power ritual a second time on the last deatheater. Mione had been researching non-stop to make sure that it wouldn't do anything bad to Gin or I. I had my own thoughts on the matter as well. It ended up that we could each do two total as that was the amount of 'hands' for lack of a better word the animals were holding out in the tattoo that we each received from the ritual. Ginny ended up with a large tiger with feathered wings, Mione with a black unicorn and Ron was a dark gray wolf. We didn't have a clue what they meant until later though. I thought about waiting to find someone more powerful to perform the ritual on but we were starting to talk about getting a move on in search of the horcruxes and I wanted every advantage I could get as soon as possible. I would find a way later to augment my power even more. We all knew that Riddle was stronger than any one of us alone even with the power rituals. We would probably be an even match with all of us against him. The magic from the girl was a dark blue with green and after everything was done the griffin had a ball of shimmering blue and green magic in it's other claw. It took longer to assimilate the second magic. Probably because I hadn't gained total control of Bella's magic yet. It would probably take years of training it much like when I started school for the magic to come to me as easily as it use to. I could feel even then the slight separations that was the different peoples magic in my body."

My birthday came and went with the planning and we had a small celebration. As October approached we decided it was finally time to leave and search out the horcurxes." Harry sat back and sighed, trying to think of what next to tell Kari.

"What did you do to prepare? I mean you were going to be gone for long times. You had so much already that it wouldn't fit in your trunks. You all needed more supplies and cloths and all sorts of other things. You hadn't even made your staff yet so why did you decide to leave then?" Kari was on the edge of her seat. She wanted to know everything.

Harry gave a barking laugh at the inquisitiveness of this girl. He was sure that Hermione had been born again. "Well the food was easy after I asked Dobby and Winky. The next day when we arrived in the kitchens they handed each of us our own little sacks. They weren't any bigger than a potato sack and made of a durable looking burlap. Confused I looked in mine and was amazed. They had expanded the insides to hold nearly an infinite supply of food all with stasis charms. Three metal decanters ended up holding a endless supply of water, pumpkin juice and butterbeer. Each sack held literally hundreds of already cooked and wrapped meals as large as anything they would have gotten from at Hogwarts along with nearly every sweet we could think of. They said that Dumbledore had told them to follow any requests Harry had for them and to help him in any way possible. So that took care of our food needs for as long as we needed."

"For the trunk space, Ginny had found the charms to be able to expand spaces and create new dimensions, or more accurately create pocket dimentions. Using these we created our own multi compartment trunk. Out of vindictiveness I decided to make a new one for me out of Whomping Willow wood. I was still sore at the thing for the my second year and my third when it broke my broom. The thing was livid I'll tell you when I hacked off one of the larger branches. I figured that since I had plenty of wood now I could make each of us one. With magic it was rather simple. Having the supplies we needed already we just transfigured the rest. We had found out a while before that I could conjure nearly anything permanently. It wouldn't fade like most conjuration. So for screws, fittings and filigree I used platinum. I never hadn't gotten the hang of silver or gold at the time. As it was it took nearly all my energy to create so much of the noble metal. After that Ginny and Hermione finished all the charms. I then added wards to each of them making them nearly impervious then for security I had us each use a dark art blood ward. The reason for this is that any one trying to open it without my permission would be burned severely. The insides had five compartments each, each containing a pocket dimension with five times the actual space. Finally Ginny charmed them so that they would expand and shrink on our voice command. Ron then added a powerful feather light charm to each. So as you can see we were all set to get going."

"The next morning we all apperated out and that is where my story really begins. We ended up spending a week in muggle London. We bought an entire new wardrobe for each of us. After all, it had been over a year since we got anything new and with all the changes to ourselves. Well we needed new clothes that didn't have transfiguring magic all though it. You never know how the different magics would react in a fight or if someone just cast a _finite_ on us it would have hindered our movements way too much. We all got a few nice things but mostly tough clothing… jeans, jumpers, leather clothes… that type of thing. After that I portkeyed to Germany to pick up my items from the guy. He had made me a duster out of the black dragon hide. I still have it as a matter of fact, but I had a few new ones made that are in much better condition. He had even attached a hood onto it to make it like a modified cloak that wouldn't fly around so much during a fight. It was full body and stopped only a centimeter from the ground to give the effect of gliding. He knew who I was and knew that I was going to be getting in quite a few scraps over the next years, he had no idea how right he was, and I was extremely grateful for the good work he did. He then made me some boots with a knife sheath on the outside of the right one. Finally he gave me two gloves he had made out of the hide. It looked like a combination of gauntlets and bracers. Each only had quarter fingers but covered the first knuckle in a fight. They went three quarters up my forearms with an attachable wand holster and attachable throwing knife holster for which ever hand I used. I got the same for the Ron, Gin and Mione as well but their coats were trench coats since we were going to have to blend into the muggle world probably more than we would be in the magical."

"I changed into the boots which fit perfectly and were perhaps the most comfortable things I had ever put on my feet. I slid a large knife I had bought from one of the stores we had passed while shopping the day before. It was a huge bowie that I could use as a last ditch effort. I put the gloves on and slid my wand into the holster I had put on my left arm and as I pulled the straps to tighten them I was shocked to feel the hide harden to give my wrists and knuckles more support as well as protect my arms."

"Now I don't want to sound too vane, but when I was though I cut quite and intimidating image. I was wearing all black, boots, leather pants, large belt, knitted long sleeve shirt, dragon hide duster and the gloves. All the dragon hide had been charmed to fit better and had temperature charms on the inner liners so would be quite comfortable in any weather we happened to be in at the time. Happy with everything I thanked the man and left. The others were quite happy with what they had gotten."

Harry looked over to Kari how now seemed to be drifting off a bit. Yes he knew this was the boring part of the story. "I know it is hard to keep your attention during this part but it all comes into play over the next years. I just want you to know what I had so you would realize why some things happen in the future. Don't worry though, we're about to get back to the excitement." Kari looked sheepish at being caught not paying attention. "Well the next day we went to a sporting goods place and bought a good knife for everyone. We also each got a smaller little folding knife that would be more practical to use for cooking or cutting smaller things. After that we just traveled a bit. We visited the Grangers who tired to keep Hermione from leaving again. Her father even tried to punch me but thanks to the rituals he only succeeded in missing and hitting the wall behind me. After that we went to Order Headquarters, visited a few friends. Everyone was quite shocked at our appearance. We had changed an a lot over the time we were gone both physically, mentally and magically. A few of the Order members thought to try to keep us locked away and even went as far as to try to force us when we disagreed. The duel that followed was both quick and effective. It took all of five minutes to take down the five members, two of which were aurors. It did them all well to be put in their places for two reasons. One to show that we could take care of ourselves and two to let them know what they were going to be dealing with when they fought the deatheaters. The curses and spells we used were not nice ones. It shocked almost everyone when they saw the ease that we used dark and battle magic so we sat down with them and told them why. We told them about finding Godric's journal and some of the things it had said about magic in general and the users intent."

"It was Halloween that we decided would be our starting point. For the most part we stayed out of the magical world to keep from being spotted and subsequently attacked. We had it all planned out. We would split up and go to the different stores we needed. We didn't need any books much to Mione's disgust. So while I went an bought all of us new firebolt brooms, Mione went to the apothecary an bought everything they had. Ginny went and got supplies and Ron went to get potions equipment. We managed to acquire somewhere around ten thousand galleons due to the deatheaters we had stopped up to that time. Malfoy Jr. suprisingly had nearly three thousand on him when we stopped him. It was plenty to cover what we needed at the time but we knew we were going to need more so we all met up at Gringotts when we were done…"

"Don't stop here." Harry said as they all met up in the steps to the wizarding bank. "We can separate everything once we get down to my vault."

The rest nodded, looking out from under the deep shadows of the hoods that adorned the trench coats they were wearing. It only took a moment to get a free goblin and after a little problem where Harry was informed that he now had access to his family vault where all the gold from his trust vault and the inherited money and property he had gotten from Sirius was now placed. The good thing was that it was a very secure vault and could only be opened by a Potter heir.

"Harry?" Hermione whispered as he started down the hallway to the cart. "Didn't you say that Riddle used your blood in the resurrection ceremony? If he has your blood, doesn't that mean he could get into your vault?"

Ron and Ginny who were just in front of them stopped suddenly and turned with horrified looks on their faces. "She's right mate." Ron said quickly and too softly for the goblin to overhear. "We need to get everything out until this damn war is over. Then we can return it."

"Plus there are rumors the goblins are thinking of helping Riddle if what Mad-eye says is to be believed." Ginny put in.

Harry looked over to Hermione to see her nod in agreement. "Alright, we'll put a quarter in each trunk. That way if we ever get separated we won't have to worry about running out of money. And don't argue with me about this." Harry stated glaring at the three who were about to protest. "I would give everything in that vault to get just one of you out of trouble and you know that. I don't care about the money. I care about you all."

"If you would please get in the cart Mr. Potter." The goblin interrupted looking both put out at the delay and also seeming quite shifty at the same time. His eyes kept darting back and forth as if trying to see if they were being followed and it seemed twitchy and prone to fright.

'Something's wrong.' Harry thought to himself as he climbed in after his friends. As he sat in the cart he casually reached to his boot and unbuckled his knife, he was starting to get a bad feeling about this. As he was down he softly tapped Ron's boot. Ron did the same but didn't show that he was preparing for a fight. Ron then passed the message and the rest did the same but showed no reaction outside. The cart ride sped though the dark caverns but with the enhanced seeing each had thanks to the rituals each could see where they were going in the dark caverns. Harry had switched to his heat site and was looking around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

As they reached the vault the goblin instructed Harry as to what he had to do. Walking to the door he placed his hand on a thin pedestal and allowed it to test his blood. It wasn't long until the door opened to allow them access. The four walked in an only gaped for a moment at the amount of gold and other items in the room while the goblin waited out side the door for them to return. Each taking out their trunks they started piling gold into the largest chamber they had. They were only able to get about half of it so not wanting to chance any of his gold going to fund Voldemort, he had Ginny and Mione start working on adding another compartment to the trunk. He really didn't want to be this long but thought this was better than the alternative.

"How big do you want it?" Hermione asked.

"Will the feather light charms hold if we make it large enough to hold all of it, kind of like a mini-vault?" Harry asked.

"Yea," Ginny answered, "The weight will be transferred to the pocket dimension. The feather light charm is only needed for the actual weight of the trunk not the contents inside. It will take a while to do everything correctly. Like two hours for all four but I think we should do it." Harry nodded. "Ron help out with anything they need. I'm going to check out what this goblin is up to. He's acting weird and I'm getting a bad feeling about this." The group had come to trust many of Harry's feelings after the events of their last year in Hogwarts so set to work as Harry inched closer toward the vault door.

Concealed in the shadows Harry watched the goblin speak into a patch on the shoulder of is uniform. Harry couldn't tell what he was saying but it seemed suspicious. Another ten minutes went by and the goblin again started talking harshly into his patch. Checking on the progress the others were making Harry noticed that they weren't even done with the first trunk, his. The goblin suddenly stopped talking and looked intently up the rail tracks. Following the goblins line of sight Harry couldn't see anything but he noticed the goblin briefly check to make sure the group was all inside the vault then looked to be flagging down something.

Realizing what might be happening Harry again switched his vision to see heat signatures. Three more carts came into view each holding two goblins each. The goblins nodded to each other and then separated and surrounded the platform. Harry could see the pale blue of the swords that were now held in their hands.

'Damn it' Harry cursed himself. Seven goblins and who knows what else they might be bringing. Harry only hoped the rumors of dragons being under goblin control down here were false. That was all he needed now.

Slowly he moved back from the shadows and to his friends. "Seven goblins are on the platform waiting for us, six with swords out and disillusioned. I don't know what else they're planning to bring out for us but we have the advantage. We know they are planning an ambush. It seems they are content to wait until after we leave the vault to attack so take your time and make sure we do this right. Don't use too much energy for the trunks so slow down if you need to. Make them big, leave plenty of room for other things. Ron come with me and help separate what is going to go with who."

After two and a half hours of working they were ready. Harry had found a corner that had pictures and letters from his parents and relatives. There was an entire wall of wands he took with him, he could use the core's for his staff if he needed to. Most everything else was just materials and books. It was Ron who found a small case that had some weapons in it. There were a few swords of different makes, a bow and quiver set, a few daggers and staves, some shields and even a blow dart gun. None seemed too magical but for the bow that seemed to have something on it to make it more powerful. Harry ended up taking the bow and quiver set as well as a sword. He had read about how Godric had used his sword in battle with great effectiveness. The thing was a wizard such as he could best use a long sword instead of the bigger swords that knights of that era were prone to use. It was light enough use with one hand but long and heavy enough to stop an opponents blow and long enough to reach your target without getting too close. Finding a sword that was once used by a Potter long ago Harry strapped the scabbard onto his belt. It had a long brightly shining blade that was wide at the base and tapered strait to a point. It had the same shining metal as a cross guard. The grip was what looked like a cherry colored leather with strips of gold to help give it grip. Then the pummel was a golden head of a lion with a crown on it's head, mouth open in a silent roar. Down the center of the blade on each side were runes that even Hermione could not decipher inlayed with gold to help them stand out against the gleaming metal. It held only a bit of magic to keep it sharp and stronger than most steel blades but that was it. Nodding his head, Harry slid it back into the black leather scabbard and placed a few throwing knives he had found in his bracer. He had no idea how to use them yet but wanted to have them knowing that they were probably going to be attacked as soon as they left the vault. At least he would have something sharp to banish into an opponent if he needed it. The rest of the weapons were distributed between the rest of the group None of the others decided to wear the weapons and just placed them into their trunks. Finally they had the entire vault separated and the purchases for the day quartered up.

"Wait here while I see if they're still there." Harry whispered to the other three. They nodded as Harry was the only one that had the ability to see heat signatures. That would change in the near future as the group saw how useful it could be. Each had at least two clear diamonds in their trunks after clearing out the vault and were already thinking about the ritual.

Harry came back looking determined. "Still the seven goblins but now they have a Waveren out there as well." Harry thought about that. It would be nice to capture it and up it in a stasis egg (think like Pokemon) to try to use it for his staff later on. They were powerfully magical creatures.

The others nodded. "You all take out the goblins, I have the Waveren. I want to capture it and it shouldn't be too difficult in these caves. I doubt that it can move all that well in here." Harry laid the plan out to them all. Agreeing they moved to the door.

Harry didn't wait for the rest to get out the door before his wand was in his hand and casting a canceling charm for the disillusionment. The shock of them knowing the goblins were there was all the rest needed. Faster than seemingly possible the other three burst from the door casting curses. Three of them were taken out in the first volley with cutting curses.

Ron moved to the next one that was charging with his sword ready to cut the red head into pieces. Whipping his wand around his head a bright fire red whip lashed out an cracked against the goblins shoulder. It tore through the flesh and broke the bone. Another strike and it's intestines spilled on the floor from a strike to the stomach. Ron spun jabbing with his wand at the next goblin who as gesturing with his hands starting some sort of magic. Before he could release the magic a ice blue beam struck the goblin promptly removing every bone in his body. It fell to the ground like a bag of Jell-O. He quickly searched for another threat seeing that everything seemed to be under control. Only Harry was still fighting but he was right. Due to the creatures size it couldn't move fast enough in the caves. It was already sporting a variety of battle scars before Harry banished one of the metal carts into the creatures face promptly knocking it unconscious. He turned away as he knew that Harry would be spelling the creature into one of his stasis things to take with him. It really was a good idea Ron though as he cast detection charms along the tunnel to ensure they were safe.

"Everyone alright?" Ginny asked as she took a jewel encrusted dagger from one of their attackers. She weighted it in her hand then tossed it into her trunk.

"No harm here." Ron announced as he check himself.

"I was nicked by a cutting curse but it's already healing." Hermione added thanking the rituals she had done to heal her without help. She could feel a small pull at her energy level as the magic set to work taking care of her needs.

"Damn stupid giant snake." Harry muttered. "It tried to bite me!" he lifted up the bottom of his duster showing a slight scuff by the leg where the inch long fangs tried to bite down. "I didn't know dragon hide could stop something like that."

"Glad it did though." Ginny said taking off his boot to show a bruise that was healing much like Hermione's cut was.

"Yea no kidding." Harry admitted as he put the boot back on.

They all climbed into a cart and started making their way to the surface. Once their they were met with a group of shocked and frightened looking goblins as they saw the pissed off wizards and witches getting out of the cart. It only took a moment though before one of them shouted something and all hell broke loose.

Ginny spun away from a red disk of magic moving toward her. It seemed as if everything was moving in slow motion thanks to the rituals and goblins weren't that fast to begin with. Their magic was better suited to something that doesn't need to be done quickly like warding. Waving her wand in a large arc a wall of fire shot toward a group. All that came out the other end were chard bones. She rolled as another group attacked. Whipping her wand horizontal to the group she growled 'sectum sempra'. Three of the five goblins fell to the ground with no legs screaming. The other two started moving their hands for the next spell but She shot forward. Her elbow crushed into the first goblin's neck crushing the wind pipe and at the same time she was kicking out catching the other goblin in the side of the leg. A snap and a howl let her know she succeeded. She didn't waist time though. In one motion she grabbed the knife from her boot and swung it in an arch until she felt a small amount of resistance then nothing again. Ginny looked to see the goblin fall to the ground, blood pooling from its neck. She lurched forward as she felt something slam onto her back. Spinning she saw another goblin with sword ready to strike a second time. It was clearly surprised that the strike did nothing more that piss off the girl. Ginny didn't waist time as she cast the killing curse and the goblin dropped, dead before it hit the ground. Looking around the floor she could see the bodies of many goblins in various states of death or dying. The other were looking around as well, ready for the next attack but the goblins that managed to survive had fled back into their caves.

Harry looked around after the fighting was over. Most looked none the worse for wear other than blood splattered all over them all. Some of it was probably theirs. He noticed Ginny had a line on the back of her coat where it looked like a goblin got her from behind. Ron was pulling a piece of wood from his cheek and Hermione was holding her arm. He bent down to check his knee. A damn goblin had caught him with it's sword. The blade didn't cut him but the force felt like it had broken a bone or two. A loud snap and a short scream told him that Hermione's arm was in the same shape as his leg. Suddenly his leg made a soft grinding noise as the bones moved back into the correct place and the pull on his energy to repair the damage done along with all the other small cuts and bruises. He quickly pulled out a bag from his pocket. Inside were a few fictional books they had bought for their enjoyment before they entered the alley form a small book shop and a few candy bars. Grabbing four bars he tossed one to each of the others who took them gratefully then shoved the bag back into his coat pocket.

"Well that was fun." Ron said as he was looking though some of the goblins possessions.

"I don't think they were ready for us. They seemed a bit surprised when we arrived." Ginny giggled as she moved over to Harry to look at his leg…again.

"The question is, was this the work of Voldemort or some other power?" Hermione thought.

"Of course it's Voldemort!" Ron started hotly.

"Maybe not Ron." Harry cut in confusing Ron. "Think about it. I've pissed Scrimgeour off all last year then what happened after the funeral. I remember him having a little conference with Umbridge and Percy after he left me. Maybe he thought I was too powerful a player to not know what I was up to."

"He's becoming as paranoid as Fudge from what Tonks told us." Ginny entered the conversation.

"I still think it was Voldemort." Ron grumbled. "I doesn't matter though does it. I mean we were meant to die then they could have made up all sorts of things as to how we did. Even saying we feel off the carts. By surviving, Gringotts will go out of business and another war will start."

"And we really don't need the goblins to side with Voldemort if they aren't already."

"We could try to talk with them?" Ron more asked then stated.

"No not now. We need to show them the consequences of what they have done regardless of who they are working for now. It will also show that we are more powerful than they know and will make them second guess going after us again. Especially if it was the Ministry." Hermione said as she thought over the possibilities.

"I know." Harry said grimly. "I've been working on a sort of magical bomb and I think I have it just about figured out. It takes a while but I can do it. Get ready to leave while I get everything ready."

The others started moving toward the door as Harry moved over to the halls where the goblins retreated. He had been practicing separating the molecules in the air and concentrating them in a specific place. Concentrating he conjured a field that stretched down the hall then vanished everything in it leaving a perfect vacuum. He then summoned every oxygen molecule he could. The air around him started to move as he felt the amount of oxygen in the air decrease as it headed into the now warded area. Harry could see goblins on the other side of the ward looking suspiciously at what he was doing. It didn't take long to have as many oxygen molecules packed into the place as possible. Harry moved back toward the front doors before casting ball of fire. He turned and ran, grabbing his friends as he sprinted from the building. They paid no mind to anything around them as they felt the ground rumble before a wave a heat hit them in the back pushing them forward into the cobble stone street. Spinning and looking at the cause they each saw a huge pillar of flame and crumbled stone where once use to be the wizarding bank.

"Well, that worked rather well." Harry commented.

"You think?" Squeaked a wide eyed Ron.

"Might think of making some type of fuse though." Ginny grumbled as she rubbed her bum.

No one would have to worry about he goblins for a long time. Even if any survived that explosion it would take a year even with the wizards help to dig out the place. It was kind of ironic that the warded tracks to the vaults were still accessible. Hopefully they didn't have a place for the other goblins to leave from. Harry doubted it with how security conscious the goblins where and that would be a major security risk.

Harry turned an finally took stock of the situation they had found themselves in. All around him black robed figures were staring at the burning building in shock. Members of the Order and Ministry were equally still looking into the flames. It was like someone had pushed the pause button. It didn't last long however. Harry jumped to his feet and drew the sword. The first deatheater was only a few feet from him and the blade passed through is neck. As he dropped to the ground the others were jumping up and started firing curses. The movement brought everyone back to reality and the battle began again.

It had only gone one for a few minutes before Harry heard the voice he was hoping not to hear for a while yet.

"Harry Potter. So nice to see you once again. And this time without your muggle loving fool's protection." Came the hissed words.

Harry grabbed a deatheater near him and held him against the wall behind him. The point of is sword already drawing blood from the man's neck. At the same time Ginny was hidden behind her attacker with her knife drawing a line of red across his neck. White blond hair could be seen escaping the hood of the cloak. Hermione and Ron were in similar situations, holding one deatheater by blade and another wounded one on the ground by wand.

Opposite them Voldemort had Remus, Tonks, Shack and a few of the Order and Ministry. It was a classic stand off. Harry knew that Voldemort didn't want these deatheaters dead. From the amount of curses they had used before capture he was sure they were in the upper levels of Riddles followers. He knew for a fact that Ginny had Lucius and had killed Narcissa earlier in the fight. Without that Malfoy money Voldemort would have a harder time getting what he needed.

"Well it seems that we have ourselves a little problem doesn't it Riddle?" Asked Harry as he took in the entire situation.

"Don't push your luck Boy!" Voldemort hissed. "You know you are no match for me. Though I must say I am impressed with how powerful you have become. You know my offer from your first year. You could join me and now that I have seen what you are capable of in only a years time I know we could be great together."

"Don't try that crap with me Voldemort." Harry retorted. Everyone else was silent willing to let the two converse, at least for the time being. "We both know that you don't share power and after all you have done to me can you really believe that I would join you? You've used one to many rituals if you think that."

Voldemort shrugged and took a step forward. "Naha." Harry responded shortly driving the sword deeper into the man's neck. A gurgled yelp was produced by said deatheater. "You just stay there and I here. I think we can come up with something." Harry advised the Dark Lord.

"Will you kill them Potter? Defenseless wizards. Will you kill them in cold blood? Is that what you want to world to know you as?"

"I'm only willing to return the favor Tom." Riddle hissed in annoyance. "Now as I see it we have one of two options." Harry glanced around seeing a few Order members he had seen earlier that week on the ground either injured or dead. Some aurors were in the same condition. "It seems we have both lost more than enough fighters for one day."

"So you suggest a… what, tie?"

"Live to fight another day. You seem to be a few inner circle members short these days as it is. As you can see Lucius is the only Malfoy still breathing these days and that could be taken care of rather quickly. It would be a shame for you to loose all that financial backing he's been tossing your way."

Voldemort eyes narrowed angrily as he though of his options. "I still have many competent followers left to me."

"You won't if you continue this fight. I know you can kill me if you wanted to right now. But not before we take out most of the rest of you best fighters. And how do you think you would do against the four of us together? I might not be a match for you yet but I guarantee the four of us will give you a good fight."

"Fine boy, I will leave and you will allow any of my followers still standing to leave with me."

"Fine, another day then."

"You can't do that Potter! You have no authority here boy. I'll have you arrested for this. Aurors take both of them!" Some unknown auror hidden in the back yelled.

"Will someone shut him up before he gets everyone here killed." Harry demanded.

No one had moved to follow the other man's orders and after a few quick curses he was quiet. The auror in the front and therefore in the most danger were willing to do anything to stay alive past this battle. They couldn't believe Potter could stand up to the demon and not cower with fear.

"Well done Potter. It seems as if you have grown a brain in that head of yours after all." Severus Snape stepped from behind Riddle to take his new place at his right hand.

Harry cursed, it coming out in a hiss as he inadvertently slipped into parsel-tongue in his rising anger. Voldemort laughed, clearly enjoying seeing and smelling the amount of fear in the air intensify.

"Don't worry Snivellus, before this is over I will have caused you the same pain I did your precious Bellatrix. I was the one to kill her you know." Harry theatrically shivered, driving the sword through the man's neck in the process. He fell dead and Harry just shrugged before turning his full attention back to Voldemort and Snape. Riddle looked a little amused at the casual way Harry had just dispatched one of his men. "I know you wanted her Snivellus. I was in your mind remember, and in your memories. I remember your lustful looks at her, your thoughts that are even now showing in your eyes, how you lust for her. Do you know how long it takes to drive someone insane from pain with out using the Cruciatus? A long, long time."

Snape lunged but Riddle's hand flew out and slammed into the Snape's cheek, driving him to the ground. "Do not ever attack without my authority again. Is that understood Severus?" Snape nodded quickly and moved a step behind the Dark Lord as he had been before. Then with a wave of his wand the standing deatheaters disappeared.

The Order members that were being held quickly took up positions behind Harry and raised their wands to prepare to attack.

"STOP!" Harry yelled. "He followed though with his side of the deal, now it's our turn." The fighters lowered their wands automatically, not realizing they were taking orders from an eighteen year old.

"Before I go…" A white piercing light shot from Voldemort's wand and encompassed Harry before he was able to react. Harry knew he had no help coming and as Voldemort kept up his mumbled incantation Harry started thinking about what he needed to do. Pooling his magic together and forcing the foreign magic to cooperate he pushed back against Riddle.

As Harry opened his eyes he could see the white light being attacked by his own. Crimson streaks, blue bolts, silver sparkles and golden waves of magic fought against each other. The force of the magic pulled the bag out of Harry's pocket and scattered the three books that were inside on the ground at his feet. The white was intensifying now as Riddle pushed more and more.

"This Harry is a spell I had made just for you." Voldemort's voice was strained with effort to keep the spell going. "You see I grew tired of constantly having you slip through my hands when I tried to kill you. So I forced the goblins into my service for this project because I knew you would be coming here eventually. You did well with them but they are an inferior race so I had no doubt you survive the encounter. But now here I have you and instead of trying to kill you I have something much better. Your former mentor kept telling me that there are worse things than death. I realized he was right. This spell will trap you in another plane of existence, one you can never escape from. One with nothing, nobody, no colors, no ground, no air, absolutely nothing but yourself for the end of time."

"No matter what you do Riddle I will find away to come back and kill you!"

"You think you could kill me! I have sixty years experience over you. You couldn't kill me if you had double that to practice and study!" Riddle replied seething. The white magic brightened to another intensity that seemed to shock the snake man and unsettle him somewhat. The spell picked up the three books and they seemed to absorb in the wall of white magic. Words poured from the books and started circling Harry who looked on as confused as Riddle now looked.

Knowing he didn't have much time left Harry turned to his friends. "Keep fighting and be prepared for when I get back. I will, I promise on my magic I will return to help you rid the world of this monster. Stay strong and don't wait for me. Live your lives, I don't know how long I will be gone. Find someone to love Ginny as I have loved you."

Ginny was crying but nodded knowing that now was not the time for arguing. Harry fell to his knees as the felt his magic loosing. Voldemort was shaking as he looked to be trying to break the spell that was draining all his magic from him. Shaking, Riddle screamed in rage and panic trying to figure out what was going on.

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "I love you guys. Watch out for each other and Ginny. I don't think I will be seeing you for quite a while but I will hold true to my promise. I will return. Take care of that old wolf Tonks." Harry spoke up as the alley watched him fighting against the curse. "I want my new godfather in one piece when I get back."

Tom Riddle was now on the ground, foaming from his mouth and blood coming from his nose, ears and eyes as the magical strain was swiftly becoming too much for him. Harry felt a pull on his very soul and screamed out in sudden pain as he continued to fight the spell. Another sharp jerk and Harry Potter disappeared following a ball of white magic that imploded on itself with a deafening clap of thunder. With the last vestiges of strength, Voldemort wrapped a hand around a ring on his hand and spat out some word and he too disappeared.

**BUYING TIME - BUYING TIME - BUYING TIME**

A wide eyed Kari sat perched on the very edge of the couch fascinated with the story and waiting for more. Harry smiled to himself. After so many years he had quite perfected the art of anticipation and using it to get the results that he wanted.

"I think that will be all for tonight. It is getting quite late." Harry stated as he looked over to the grandfather clock in the corner of the room.

Kari's face screwed up into an indignant scowl as her Grandpa ended the story just as it was getting interesting.

"You study hard and I will tell you the next part after you finish the next ritual." Harry said amused at his young charge as she stalked off to her room muttering about how she 'didn't even need to sleep anymore' and 'I'm not even tired anyway'.

After she was gone a tall woman with jet black hair and piercing ice blue eyes emerged from the shadows.

"Good evening luv. Did you enjoy the story as well?" Harry asked not even looking her way and seemingly knowing she was there the whole time.

"You know I always like to hear that story and I have to wait for the inheritance to be able to hear it myself."

"You still like hearing it? Even after I've told it to you so many times and you even participating in a major part of it?"

"Of course I do. Your such a good story teller and you have such a way with the children. It makes me want more just seeing you with them."

"We've already had twenty luv, and they grew and turned out better than anything I could ever have hoped for."

"They did that." Replied the woman. "It's would have been Lilly's three hundred and fifty first birthday tomorrow." She went on sadly.

"Yes I know." He replied sadly. "She was our youngest you know… my baby."

"We could have some more. I know they will never replace our children that have already passed on but I think it would help fill that void that we both seem to be feeling."

"I'll think about it and we can talk more on it another time. It's was so hard watching all our children grow old and then having to bury them. No parent should have to bury their own child no matter how old that child was when they passed. It still feels like yesterday when we buried Lilly but I know it was more than a hundred years ago. The ache is still as strong as ever."

"I know my love. It is the same with me even if our children lived an exeptionally long life by normal wizarding standards. Let's prepare to visit the children's tombs when the sun rises. Kari will be fine without us for a few hours. I doubt she will even leave her room for all the studying."

"Yes," Harry's eyes lit up in a way only the mention of Kari could. His wife knew that for some reason he loved the child more than the rest of his large family though he would never show it or admit to it, everyone in his family was dearly important to him. "Yes that girl has so much of us in her. I think the hat will have a difficult time placing her. When I look at her I see you and me but I also see Hermione, Ron and Ginny staring out of her eyes back into mine. It's unnerving at times even."

"Is she the one you have been waiting for?" Asked the woman.

"Maybe. I think so but she has much to learn still. We will keep an eye out and maybe teach her more if she shows promise, but I think she could be… she could be."

With that the aged pair moved out of the sitting room to ready themselves for the day ahead.

Kari glared at the spiral binder in front of her. Two pages showed listing the steps and results of two rituals that she was trying to decide to do. She had taken her Grandpa's story to heart from a few nights prior and started researching the healing ritual that would fix any damage that had already been done to the body and would accelerate the already speedy healing, due to the first ritual she did, for any future injuries. It was either that or the strength enhancing that would give her the strength and speed of a were-wolf thanks to the hair and blood that one of her friends had willingly donated earlier that month.

The Potters and Weasleys were the only families left from the group that had made the were-wolves lives much easier. Over the years they had, much due to Hermione's brain, found a way to control the curse, giving the people infected the ability to change at will and not be forced by the full moon. It was much like an animagus transformation but still much more painful. Still now the were-wolf community could work and all helped either family as much as possible.

Finally Kari flipped a coin, tails, the health ritual it was.

Three days later both Harry and his wife watched the young girl going though the steps to the ritual. This one was much harder than the first and much more dangerous. Each had inspected the potion she had made to make sure that it was perfect. They had watched as she cut different runes, eventually forming as large cross across her front. She seemed to be doing well though. She was using her occulemcy to it's maximum to keep the pain pushed to one part of her mind and allow her to work though the pain. Harry nodded impressed. Very few eleven year olds could do something like this.

The magic in the air increased as she finished the last rune and she started chanting in an old Norse tongue. She stopped and did the proper movements, bowing to each of the four cardinal compass points and preyed to the ancients to help her. She again knelt and took a bowl of silver blood, willing given from a unicorn, and bathed the runes she carved into her chest with it. She then took up a goblet with half of the potion in it and drank. Harry knew from experience how bad it tasted. Then as she continued chanting she poured the rest of the potion over her wounds.

A golden light started shining from her chest as the concoction was pulled into her body and the little girl dropped to the floor screaming. The mixture making it's way through her body felt like liquid fire boring into every part of her. She let out a piercing scream as her body convulsed and her back arched off the ground. It felt like it lasted hours and hours to the young witch but a more rational part of her knew it was only a few minutes. Finally the pain started to subside and she laid one the ground panting and shaking. She knew that it was suppose to be painful but what she had felt was the worst pain she had ever even thought of and there were suppose to be even more painful rituals.

'Like what Grandpa did to those two witches to gain their power. I couldn't imagine something like that.'

She stumbled to her feet and used the wall to support her as she left the room, not bothering to clean up just yet. That could be done after she rested and recuperated from her ordeal. She knew if she had done the ritual correctly she would have a symbol magically marked into her skin somewhere on her chest. Staggering to the full length mirrors, much like dressing room mirrors, in the readying room she searched for what she hoped she would find. She was sure she did the ritual correctly but she always had that annoying voice in the back of her mind about the dangers.

'If Grandpa, Grandma, their friends and the rest of my family could do it I can too.' She thought fiercely. 'Plus Grandpa was watching and would have stopped it if I was doing anything wrong.'

Glancing up into the mirror she smiles as she saw the 'cross of life' branded just above her left breast. It had worked. She sighed happily as she moved herself to the rooms built in showers to clean up. Then she was going to get some sleep. Then Grandpa was going to continue his story.

It took Kari two days to completely recover from the ritual and then clean up her mess but she was more than ready for the story to continue as she moved to corner her Grandpa the next morning.

"Okay, I did the second ritual…"

"Mmm, so you did. And you did very well with it. Though it was not one you needed to do just yet for the inheritance so you still need to do those two." Harry sat back in his chair looking over his book.

"Fine! But what happens next?" The little girl moved to the edge of her seat.

"Well normally you would study for the next one so you can get ready for Hogwarts."

"No, not that Grandpa. You know what I mean. Get on with the story."

"Oh that." Harry chuckled at how he riled up his charge. "Well I suppose you did earn it. Now were did I leave off."

"Where you always do to try to drive every eleven year old." Came his wife's reply as she took a seat next to her husband, smiling fondly at his antics."

"Ah yes, I suppose I do remember now…."


	2. Chapter 2

**Previously on Buying Time:**

_Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "I love you guys. Watch out for each other and Ginny. I don't think I will be seeing you for quite a while but I will hold true to my promise. I will return. Take care of that old wolf Tonks." Harry spoke up as the alley watched him fighting against the curse. "I want my new godfather in one piece when I get back."_

_Tom Riddle was now on the ground, foaming from his mouth and blood coming from his nose, ears and eyes as the magical strain was swiftly becoming too much for him. Harry felt a pull on his very soul and screamed out in sudden pain as he continued to fight the spell. Another sharp jerk and Harry Potter disappeared following a ball of white magic that imploded on itself with a deafening clap of thunder. With the last vestiges of strength, Voldemort wrapped a hand around a ring on his hand and spat out some word and he too disappeared..._

_Glancing up into the mirror she smiles as she saw the 'cross of life' branded just above her left breast. It had worked. She sighed happily as she moved herself to the rooms built in showers to clean up. Then she was going to get some sleep. Then Grandpa was going to continue his story..._

**Chapter 2**

Harry opened his eyes staring up into the starry sky above. He hurt all over and felt as if most of his magic was gone, leaving him feeling empty and hollow. Over all he felt awful. Quickly checking himself over, he didn't find any major injuries, just a few scratches and bruises. Even with the rituals he had preformed he was too drained both magically and physically for them to heal. With the last of his strength, he cast a hasty dark ward that would make anything that came into contact with it think again before trying once more to get to him. The strain drove him back to the ground and, with a last effort to remain safe, he cast a fire charm on the ground next to him to help keep warm in the chilly night air. Letting his wand snap back into his holster he wrapped his duster around him tighter and promptly passed out as the warmth of the fire repelled the cold air from the area.

It took a week to get enough energy to start moving again. The magical exhaustion he was suffering from was worse than anything he had read about and if his estimates were correct it would take at least a month before he could walk any distance and probably a year or two before he would have full use of all his magical power once again. In his constantly drowsy state he realized why they had always received those talks from Madam Pomphrey every fall and spring term to watch out for it. It could possibly set a student back a full year if one was to expend all his/her magic trying a spell too advanced that didn't have the Ministry safety stops added to it. No wonder it was an imprisoning offense to create rogue spells and distribute them without approval.

He was able to at least take in his surroundings in the weeks that he regained some of his physical strength. He was on the edge of a large grassy plain. Rocky hills broke up the monotonous landscape. On his other side was a large dense forest that seemed eerily creepy and dark. Beside him was a wide stream with crystal clear water running though it's rocky shores. He found later that the water tasted sweet, almost like it had honey mixed into it. He was able to survive off what the elves had graciously made him stored in confines of his trunk.

For two weeks Harry stayed in the wizarding tent he had purchased after the events in his sixth year. He had bought one for every student that was in the DA. The store owner had contacted his supplier and had over fifty of the things made for Harry. All were pretty plain: A comfortable sitting room with a futon and fire place, a small bedroom with a small bed and a bathroom. At the time he didn't think that he would need anything fancier than that, now however the reds and golds he had his colored seemed drab and dull to him. He never thought he wouldn't be able to use magic to create anything else he might have wanted to have.

"I should have spent more money on at least mine." Harry groaned. They were the first words he had said in over three weeks. Finally being able to think and move marginally, Harry stepped out into the sun once again to see the same surroundings.

'Where the hell am I?' Harry thought for what must have been the thousandth time. He had yet been able to wrap his mind around what had happened to him. Every time he came close he would get drowsy and have to retire to regain what energy he had. The ritual he had done was working overtime using the food he ate to first heal his body. Now though it was trying to speed the recovery of his magic. It was taking all his strength for the task and really it wasn't making much headway. Personally he would rather have it take care of him physically then magically, but deep in his subconscious he knew he was vulnerable without his magic. It was the only thing protecting him until he could figure out how to use a sword and knives better. He really needed to work on staff wielding as well; even magically it was much different than wand use. It used magic more as envisioned rather than by textbook teaching. It was difficult and only those who really understood magic could use them. It was why they stopped being used. After the invention of wands it was much easier to those who didn't really want to try so hard to use magic and allowed a community and finally a hidden world of magic users to roam the earth in stead of the few hundred that were capable of using staffs.

Harry shook his head. He had been doing that a lot lately it seemed. He wasn't able to hold his concentration on one thing to be able to think about it. It was driving him mad. He and the others had spent a lot of time in the Chamber learning deductive reasoning and logic skills to try to give them the edge over most other wizards and witches who couldn't think logically to save their lives. Plus both would help in tracking clues and breaking the mysteries that were sure to crop up trying to find the horcruxes.

Letting out a long breath he pulled his black and brown Aussie hat on along with his duster and set out to explore his surroundings a little.

As his first month drew to a close Harry was finally starting to feel better. He was able to spend the majority of his day awake, though he still made sure to sleep at least twelve hours a day to try to gain his strength back that much quicker. He made sure to stay in shape, taking little jogs around the grass land, swims in the creek, sit ups, push ups, lifting rocks, really anything he could think of to keep his muscles toned. He was already strong due to the rituals but wanted to get stronger. Were-wolves were twice as strong as most humans but there were other creatures that were even stronger; trolls, giants, dragons just to name a few. That wasn't to say he wanted to be as strong as a dragon but now that he was pretty sure he was going to have to rely on his physical fighting abilities for the next year at least he wanted to make sure that if this ever happened again he would be ready for it.

Harry sat on the edge of the creek bank after he had just taken a swim. The current was perfect to just swim against. As he swam nice and easy, he managed to stay in the same place, neither going up or down river. Now, lying on the river bank soaking in the sun, he thought about where he was and what he was going to do now.

The surprisingly lucid train of thoughts startled him momentarily as he had been trying to keep his mind from wandering instead of staying on this subject for a month now. He remembered everything Riddle had told him about the spell. It supposedly took him to another dimension, but it was also supposed to have nothing in it. So how did he get here? Then there was where it looked like Riddle lost control of the spell or it shifted somehow into something slightly different when he was talking about how long I would have to train to defeat him. 'Double the age difference between the two. That would be one hundred and twenty years by his counting'. Harry thought about that. Then there were the books that had fallen from his pocket and seemed to absorb in the spell. He had looked for them but couldn't find them at all now.

"So let's think about this rationally Harry." Harry spoke to himself. Having only him to bounce ideas off of caused a few changes and plus it was disconcerting never hearing another voice.

"The spell changes into something Tommy didn't know about when he mentioned the amount of years I would need to train to best him. Then it absorbed the books I had after they fell out of my pocket."

"Okay, so rationally if what he said was true then maybe the spell created another dimension with the books as a reference. That would explain why it took nearly both our total magical powers to exhaustion."

"So we somehow made at least one new dimension from the books I had or managed to bridge the gap between two already existing one using the information in the books as a template. But where am I now?" Harry looked around again hopping to see something that would give away where he was.

"Alright, my only logical solution to where I am is absolutely crazy. But on the off chance what do I know about those books? Nothing really. I had read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings was in the bag but this doesn't look like anything I read about in there. I don't even know what the other books were. Ron and Hermione just handed them to me after we left the store. Great, just great."

Getting tired and frustrated Harry moved back into his hidden tent to sleep and regain the strength he used up that morning.

As the next month passed Harry spent more time training with his sword and knives. He had found a large dead tree branch on the edge of the forest and propped it up with a large group of stones for a practice dummy. After searching though his multi-books he found books that would take him through beginning to high level training. Another book was on knife fighting and throwing. So Harry spent the next three months learning all he could.

By the end of his fourth month living on the edge of the grass land Harry was getting decent with the sword. He had no idea how good he was with his knife but he could throw one of the throwing knives and hit the bulls-eye from forty meters with deadly strength. During that time he had also uncovered the bow that he had taken from his vault and had been practicing with that as well. He didn't have any arrows so he used him memory of the arrows he had seen in the muggle sporting goods store and the set of deadly looking broad heads he had been looking at in the display case by the knives. Taking a chance he figured a little conjuring would be a simple enough task as not to drain him. He ended up conjuring the graphite golden shaft with synthetic feather fletchings and the four sided broad head he had been thinking about perfectly. The effort left him panting slightly but it was well worth it. After casting a multiplying charm on the arrow he had twelve dozen to use and was exhausted. He put away all but a dozen of the arrows to use later on and went to bed.

It took longer to get decent with the bow. He had lost his first dozen arrows the first day of practice as he missed the target more times than not. He still remembered the first time he hit it though. The arrow had sunk a foot deep into the hard wood from twenty meters away and was sticking out the other side of the branch. Seeing how effective they could be, he practiced every day to get better at the task.

And he did get better. He was pretty sure he could hold his own against most sword wielders thanks to his enhanced strength and speed which had finally returned to a hundred percent after six months. He could use his throwing knives easily and a dozen of them were strapped into his right glove. He could use a knife fairly well but needed a sparring partner to really improve any more, much like his sword fighting abilities. He had gone through nearly four hundred arrows practicing but now he could hit a seven inch circle each shot from seventy yards away thanks to the enhancements on the bow in combination with the strength and vision enhancing rituals he had done. All in all he was about ready to venture out into the world he was in and find out where the hell he was.

After seven months of solitude and rest Harry slid the packed tent back into his trunk and took out his Firebolt. Buttoning his duster up and pulling his, now signature, hat tighter on his head he placed his hand over his trunk and activated the shrinking charm on it until it was no larger than a deck of playing cards. Securing it in his pocket, Harry checked to make sure his sword was buckled on tightly and he had all his weapons together. His large Bowie was strapped to his boot, wand in holster, throwing knives in holster, sword on hip and bow, unstrung, strapped to his back along with quiver and two dozen arrows. Nodding to himself Harry kicked off the ground to soar above the trees.

In the air it seemed that the forest went on forever as did the grass land. Over a little portion of the forest he could see what looked like a black tower looming in the distance. Not sure where to go Harry decided to cruise along the creek and find out if it took him anywhere.

Over the next year and a half Harry spent his time traveling all over the land he was in and silently watched and unobtrusively mingled with those he fit in with. Over that time he learned the language of the people there. It wasn't much different from English so he was able to understand the people around him and after a while was likewise able to communicate with them.

He found out where he was in the time. Meeting a group of people that were hunting game they invited him back into the city with them for dinner and a drink. The town was built by a large lake that seemed to have another town built on floating docks by it. The image struck a memory in his mind but he needed to make sure first. Sure enough after a few pints of mead he had the men telling stories they had heard from their fathers who fought against old Smaug and the battle of Five Armies. That Harry remembered from the Hobbit.

'So I must be in the Lord of the Rings reality. He was sure it wasn't a meshed reality of all three books he had. So that meant either he would travel from world to world after the stories came to an end, hopefully bringing him back home after it was all over, or he was trapped and need to find a way out of the dimension himself.

'Alright, I need to start working on my magic again anyway. I can feel it is just about ready to start using again.'

"Hey what did you say your name was again anyway?" One of the middle aged men in the bar that had come over to join in the story telling asked.

"Harry's my name. Say I was wondering. I heard rumors about that old dragon. About him being down at the bottom of that lake even now and covered with gems that he had stuck between his scales?"

"Aye, lad that he is. Can't even fish near him due to that curse though. Me da was a young lad when the dragon attacked and survived. After it was all over some man tried to get himself some of that gold. 'E didn't make it back to shore before he up an' died. Since then we make sure we just stay out of that old dragon's way."

"But hasn't he rotted away by now? It's been years since he was slain. Surely a curse wouldn't last that long." Harry faked astonishment at the news. He was already planning ways to get that carcass out of the water to see what he could salvage. He would have to be careful with the curse but he would make sure he could counter it before he did anything.

"No boy and just strike those thoughts from your head right now. I tell ya that worm's full body still lay at the bottom of the lake. Hasn't rotted one bit far as I can tell. Just you drop it son. You don't want to be messing with that dragon's magic, not for all the gold on the bottom of that lake."

Harry acquiesced and changed the subject drinking the night away. He stayed in the town finding the company enjoyable after so long moving about. He found the dwarves still lived in the mountain a distance off and the two traded with the wood elves from Mirkwood regularly. It seemed as good a place as any to start making contacts. Plus Harry remembered that mithril armor from the book and thought it would be good to get some of it himself. He knew it would be expensive and it would take getting in good with the dwarfs. It would also be a good idea to spend some time with the elves to improve his fighting skills.

As it was Harry spent another month in the small city helping where he could. His willingness to help and constant good attitude endeared him with the town folk and they in turn helped Harry all they could. He trained with the city's army improving his swordsmanship remarkably. The fighters didn't have much knowledge for knife fighting, that was mainly an elf fighting technique but they helped out where they could. He had even caught an elf making his runs down river and spent some time talking with him and getting some pointers. The archers were already impressed with his archery skills and marveled at the arrows he used and as a way to hopefully get an in with the elves he made a few hundred more to be shipped to the king with his compliments and that perhaps one day they could have a chat.

It took nearly every night for the entire month for Harry to figure out what the curse was on the old dragon. The old man in the pub had been right when he said that the creature was still whole, though there did seem to be some places that seemed to indicate that rot was starting to take place. After countering the curse Harry slowly levitated the dragon out of the lake and behind a concealing hill blocking him from watching eyes. It was the middle of the night and his detection wards didn't see anyone but he knew that eyes seemed to be able to pick out wrong doings fairly easy.

The dragon was definitely large and more fantasy looking from the dragons he had back home. Instead of thick hide and a more slender, serpentine like body this one had a giant belly, scales and even a mane of hair stretching from the top of its head to its tail. He set to work quickly and _accio_-ed all the gold and gems still trapped between the scales into a pile beside him. He then did the same with what was in the lake and quickly cast the counter curse on the prize before he even touched it. The malevolent, sickly feeling decreased but it was still coming from the dragon. Harry had to cast the counter five times to finally break the curse. It was an ancient curse and strong but had weakened due to the years the beast had been dead. Harry then dried the creature and started harvesting usable parts. Magic was used to scale the dragon. A large pile of yellow/orange/red scales as large as cinder blocks pile up to one side. Another few spells and he had a pile of fire red hair. Casting an extremely dark curse the hide stripped it's self from the muscle and bone before he moved that to another pile. In the end Harry took the teeth, claws and heart along with what he already had in piles. The rest wasn't usable. It was too bad the blood of the beast had dried or diluted too much to be used. Satisfied with what he had gotten he quickly banished the body of the beast miles into Mirkwood for what ever lived there to devour what was left of the once mighty dragon. Tuning back to what he had kept Harry quickly boxed up the claws, teeth and scales. Shrunk the boxes and placed them in his trunk after labeling them. The hair he placed in a large crystal vial then it too was placed in the trunk. Finally he cast a few charms that cured and tanned the hide. It was a nice fire orange like the hair, and Harry thought that Ron would definitely like a jacket and boots in that color even if he didn't know if it had the same protections the dragon hide from his world had. With that taken care of he folded it with a spell and packed it. The gold he placed in a conjured bag. A few of the beautiful gems he kept for himself, some as big as his fist, the rest he put in the bag and shrunk. The pile of wealth had been as tall as he was and a good seven feet wide so he was pretty sure it would be enough to bargain with the dwarfs.

A week later Harry had said his good-byes to the people he had gotten to know and started making his way toward the mountain. After a safe distance from the city he concentrated on the out cropping of rock that made up the front gate of the city. With a slight move he 'popped' out of existence.

'Pop' Harry reappeared between the two guards and smirked at the frightened shock on each of their faces.

"Good evening good dwarves I have come to talk with your King. Could you please have someone escort me to his chambers?" Harry let his power roll off him, that combined with the leather and dragon hide outfit quickly had one of the dwarfs crawling over the other in an attempt to get away from the person who just arrived out of thin air. Shrugging and reining his power back in he calmly walked behind the two as they inadvertently lead the young man though passages and twists, right to the throne room.

The commotion brought many of the resident dwarves out of where ever they had been prior, curious as to what was going on and the unpracticed and thoroughly out of shape dwarfs, due to years of pampering and no thought of war, never even attempted to stop Harry as he walked directly into the throne room as if he was invited.

"What is the meaning of this!?" The bass rumbling of the dwarfin voice shouted at the two guards. "I should have your blood for abandoning your posts. Call to arms! It seems we are under attack! Where is the enemy?" He glared down on the two armored centuries at his feet.

"I'm afraid that would only be me and there is no need for force. I come in friendship and hopefully mutual gain from the matter at hand." Harry quickly replied. He had no want to give away he was a wizard yet. He used a bit of magic to scare the guards witless to get a quicker viewing with the king but that was all he was willing to give up unless he was physically attacked. If that was the case he would bring this mountain down on their head as payment.

"What? You are not even yet even out of boy-hood. What could you have to offer me?" The king scoffed as guards lined up behind him.

"I know the tale of the previous King Under the Mountain, Thorin Oakenshield, and I know his dealings with the old dragon; Smaug," The dwarfs shuddered at the name much like those of his world did when someone mentioned Voldemort by name. "The dragon was slain but you still have yet to get back your gold that he had taken with him when he attacked Lake Town."

"Yes that is true. The gold is cursed though and no one is able to retrieve it."

"None of you are able to." Harry corrected with a smirk. "I on the other hand am capable of doing it and removing the curse. However," He held up a hand to stop the King from talking. It was an offensive gesture and he knew it. It assumed that he was more important that the King and that was what he was trying to achieve. He had never bowed to anyone in his world and he would be damned if he bowed to any in another world. "However I require something in return."

"Don't think you can make demands of me boy!" The King growled. "I could have you killed where you stand."

"You can try but you wouldn't succeed King. I have fought and killed much worthier opponents than yourselves, even in the prime of your rule. Now look at you. Darkness is spreading over this land again. Tales have been spreading of orcs and goblins moving in numbers. Shadows are emerging that were once thought gone." Harry had heard many rumors while traveling and one was that Mordor was again taking form. "And here you are: Fat, lazy and in no condition to defend yourselves. I was lead directly to your chambers without even being stopped. How do you expect to protect yourselves if this is how you rule your people?"

Many of the dwarves yelled curses and a few threw rocks that Harry merely stepped out of the way from. The King however wore a look of murderous rage on his face. Before he could come up with anything to say Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a large diamond and golden cup.

"Here are but a few of the treasures I have taken from Smaug. If you are willing to listen to me and maybe take some of my advice I would be happy to discuss the matter with you."

All anger in the dwarves' faces disappeared as soon as they laid eyes on the treasure. The King quickly picked up each item and examined them. "These are indeed dwarf make from the times of old. Tell me young man how you have come across it."

"Let us sit and maybe some mead and we will discuss our venture."

It took late into the night but the King finally decided to make a suit of mithril armor for Harry in return for treasure.

"The only obstacle I can fathom is the transport of the metal. Mithril is mined in Moria and is ruled by my cousin. You would have to go there to get it then back here to have it made. It will take time as it is a very difficult art but I assure you, it will serve you well Sir Harry."

"I will need a guide to Moria. I have not been there before. Would this be possible?"

"Aye, we already have a group set to leave in the morning after next to bring back the treasures for working. You will leave with them. When you get back we will get the rest of our gold from that old dragon."

It took six months for the slow caravan to reach the gates to the Misty Mountains but in that time Harry had learned much for the dwarfs. They were a bloodthirsty bunch, always yearning for war and battle. It even seemed they searched it out. Harry had to save six of them that had been abducted by giant spiders in Mirkwood. And he hoped he had killed out the entire colony. They reminded him of the acromantulas in his own world but these were more human like and could talk.

Still it felt good to use magic again. He had found a good thing to come from the magical exhaustion when he arrived in this world. By depleting all the magic he had available to his command it had all merged together as it grew back to just as strong if not stronger than it was before. Now he didn't have to force the magic to work for him it just bent to his will.

They had also been attacked by goblins riding on wargs, which according to the group of dwarfs hadn't happened since the end of the war when they had been pushed out. That time, with little help from Harry, the entire raiding party was killed leaving none to tell the tale. As the dwarfs moved on Harry had gathered the bodies and banished them into the depths of Mirkwood to leave no signs of the missing dead.

Finally they reached their destination. The shipment was ready when they got there but they ended up spending a good month within the halls of Moria. Harry had even gone deep into the mines to see how it was done. It seemed as though he had descended into the center of the earth and quickly left. There was something wrong with mining that far down. There were things in the depths of the earth that were evil and powerful and it seemed as though they were too close for his liking. The other dwarfs laughed about it saying it was that he just wasn't a dwarf so didn't like being in the depths of the earth.

It took the group another six months to return to the Lonely Mountain, this time they ran into no problems. As they arrived the King immediately sent four of his best smiths to start his mithril mail.

"There is no need to go to Lake Town Sir King." Harry said as the King started pushing him out the door toward the front passage to get ready to leave once more.

"Oh, I pray you aren't deciding to go back on your part of the agreement."

"No, nothing like that. It's just that I have already retrieved all the gold and dealt with Smaug's body prior to our first visit."

"OH!" The shock on the Kings face faded into a wide, sly smile. "You dog you. You had me to believe it still needed to be done. Let's see it then. Come on. How many days until we get to its hiding place?"

"No need Sir King." Harry took out his shrunk trunk and set it on the ground. The King looked slightly put out then jumped in shock as the trunk grew several sizes. "I had a wizard I knew make this for me a few years back." Harry said as he flipped open to the correct compartment and proceeded to remove all the gold and jewels. "That is all of it. Plenty of payment for the armor I hope."

The King examined several pieces and smiled, slapping Harry on the back. "It is indeed that. It is indeed."

It did take another two months of non-stop work to complete the armor. It was close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, as cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver, and was studded with white gems. Even the pants came with a belt of pearl and crystal. He had watched the dwarfs work and knew he could repeat the process if he needed to with magic and thought that he could perhaps get enough mithril himself to make three more sets for his friends. The only thing was he really didn't know how much he needed. Putting those problems away for later he tried the armor on.

It fit perfectly under his cloths. The shirt was as thin as a regular undershirt and with the mild climate Middle Earth seemed to have it would be easy to wear it at all times. The pants were the same and fit to him like a second skin. What ever the dwarfs had backed the mail in was soft and cool, easily letting his body heat escape making it most comfortable under his loose leather pants.

After Harry's business was complete he left Lonely Mountain. The dwarfs were good company for a while but many of their customs and thinking were just too foreign even to him. After spending enough time with the clan to seem polite Harry moved on. After saying his good-byes he left the dwarfs as friends and moved into the wilderness. Making sure no one could see him he concentrated on the base of the Misty Mountains entrance. With a sharp turn Harry was gone and traveling in a second what had taken him half a year earlier to do.

He was happy that he got what he needed and made some inroads with another one of the races of this earth. Still now he had nothing to bargain with and wanted to get as much of the mithril as he could to use for his own purposes. And after much thought and training he was pretty sure that the durability charms on his sword were not strong enough if he ever got into a real fight with another dwarf… or elf, if what he heard of their weapons making abilities were true. Maybe this true silver, or mithril, would be good to use. Gloin, the dwarf, had said that it was ten time stronger than steel.

His contemplation took him to the great doors and was immediately shaken by what he saw. There strewn in with many dead bodies of orc and goblins were the ten dwarf guards of the gate. Looking further inside he could see signs of a great battle. From the looks of it each dwarf had slain ten times as many of their enemy as did the enemy of them, but it looks like they were just too overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Harry had recalled his fighting of the orcs from before. It was their typical tactic. Being fairly unskilled in with the weapons they wielded they sought to overrun any opposition. Looking to the doors he could see the great works of art had been torn from their hinges and were now were nothing more than two great slabs of stone. Thinking that it would be a shame to have the works of art sullied, Harry quickly shrunk the doors and made them weightless then put them in his trunk.

'What should I do?' Harry asked himself. He could still hear echoes of what sounded like battling in the depth of the halls along with great roars from a beast of some kind.

'The dwarfs seem to have been routed or fled. All the treasures will go to waist somewhere.' Harry grinned at the though. 'Besides I can use magic if worse comes to worse.'

Grinning wickedly and never letting an opportunity pass where he might gain something while keeping it away from an enemy Harry entered the entrance hall with sword and wand in hand.

A/N: Hope you all like the new chapter. I want to send out a special THANK YOU to Vampireladyateres for agreeing to be my beta. By the time this fic is over I'm sure you will be tripping over yourselves to thank her for making this such a better read.


	3. Chapter 3

**Previously on Buying Time:**

_'What should I do?' Harry asked himself. He could still hear echoes of what sounded like battling in the depth of the halls along with great roars from a beast of some kind._

_'The dwarfs seem to have been routed or fled. All the treasures will go to waist somewhere.' Harry grinned at the though. 'Besides I can use magic if worse comes to worse.' _

_Grinning wickedly and never letting an opportunity pass where he might gain something while keeping it away from an enemy, Harry entered the entrance hall with sword and wand in hand._

**Chapter 3**

Grinning wickedly and never letting an opportunity pass where he might gain something while keeping it away from an enemy, Harry entered the entrance hall with sword and wand in hand. He knew where all the mined jewels, gold and mithril were held and set off that way immediately. After an hour of walking the slightly familiar halls, which were littered with dead bodies, he came to the door of the store rooms. He could easily make out the harsh, grating voices of the orc as they argued on how to distribute the wealth. The language they used was foul and Harry had no want to even try to learn any of it.

Knowing he had to be quick, Harry hid himself in the shadows just out of the broken doors. He counted eight in the room. Waving his wand two fell dead as the arteries around their hearts were severed. Two more fell in the confusion of trying to figure out what was going on. The other four orcs still didn't see where the magic was coming from and franticly searched for the attacker. As three gathered in a back corner Harry jumped into the room. Slashing his wand the three fell to the ground, the 'Sectumsempra' curse having cut deeply into their bodies. The final orc charged. The clang of metal rang in the room but Harry didn't give him a second chance. A quick _Stupefy_ and the slimy dirty gray thing fell to the ground.

He felt exhilarated to be fighting with magic again and the feeling really caused Harry to pause at how he had changed in just a few short years. He wandered if it was just him throwing out his previous ridiculously high morals that Dumbledore instilled in him or if was because of some of the ritual he had done to himself that had tainted his soul as he knew they had.

'Probably a little of both.' He thought to himself as he enlarged his trunk and started piling cart after cart full of jewels and other precious metals. He ended up with five miner carts full of gems, another four of gold and silver. The best however was the more than thirty carts full of mithril. He had more than enough to make anything he could ever want.

'Should I try to mine more?' He asked himself.

'No that would be getting greedy. Besides after this is over I can help the dwarfs reclaim the mines and maybe get more as a repayment.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he never even noticed the giant spear until it hit him dead center in his back. The force launched him over his trunk and into the wall. Goblins and orcs poured into the small room followed by a creature that looked more like a troll from his own world only more intelligent and menacing. The creatures studied the trunk carefully before the first one tried to open it.

It jumped back scattering those remaining as it clutched it's burning hand. Red, inflamed tissue blistered and cracked as they didn't know anything about counter curses. The others watched with amusement as the small bat like goblin rolled on the floor as the curse spread slowly over it's body. Then after ten minutes of rolling, burning and loosing blood the creature stilled in death.

The commotion gave Harry enough time to regain himself and for his magic to fix the broken bones from the spear thrust. As he sat catching his wind he noticed he only still held his wand. His sword had come out of his hand some time while he was in the air and before he had hit the wall. A brief flash of worry for his dragon hide duster was quickly pushed away for later inspection as he realized his situation. He cursed himself for his inattentiveness while praising his foresight to do the healing rituals he had done. Icy anger coursed though him as he regained his feet. The creature's attention had been taken from the now dead goblin to look at Harry with scared amazement.

"That was a very bad idea!" He growled out harshly. Then as quick as lightening his wand was raised and small white darts of magic flew from the tip. It didn't much affect the stone or the troll but each dart that hit an orc pierced its flesh like a pin. He didn't stop the spell until he had turned the six orcs in the room into pin cushions.

The troll gave a roar of rage and charged ready to bring down its giant spear on him once again. Harry was ready this time and was able to use his enhanced speed and reflexes to avoid the strike.

Spinning, Harry jabbed his wand at the troll and a cannon ball exploded from the tip. The troll hadn't even had a chance to turn to Harry before the iron ball crashed into the side of its head, crushing it instantly. Time seemed to slow momentarily as the giant creature slowly arced to the ground. The crash shook the ground and Harry only hoped that it didn't start a cave in. The other orcs started screaming in rage and fright but Harry wasted no time. Turning his wand toward the door he summoned one of his more powerful spells. Desert sand poured from the tip of the wand as a fierce wind blew it into the group of enemies trying to move through the door. All movement reversed as the driving sand storm tore the flesh from their bodies like sand paper. As the orcs fled Harry ran to his sword. After sheathing it he turned to his trunk and shrunk it then secured it in his pocket.

Harry ran from the room deeper into the halls of Khazad-dum trying to evade his attackers. Eventually Harry made it to a room that held a large tomb surrounded by dead dwarfs. Some were warriors but others seemed to be record keepers. Having escaped for the time being, Harry moved over to read the script on the crypt. During his time with the dwarfs he had learned the writing of dwarfs incase he ever needed it in the future. The tomb read

BALIN SON OF FUNDIN

LORD OF MORIA

"Balin's dead?" Harry whispered in shock. He had sat and had dinner with the dwarf not more that half a year ago. "When did all this happen?" Harry spoke to himself in bewilderment.

One of the scribes was holding a large book to his chest as if trying to protect it. Carefully turning the aged dwarf over he pulled his still slightly warm hands from the pages and opened it himself to read.

Through the pages the events of the past six months became clear. Four months after his party had left, the miners had come across a giant chamber deep under the roots of the mountain. They never knew until too late that it was the prison for one of the most foul and ancient of beings ever to have been created by Sauron during his war with the elves in ages past and the land was still young. The Balrog had not spent his long years in captivity idly and used what magic it's creator gave to it and created his own force of goblins to do his bidding. Tunnels had been cut out of the rock leading deeper into the earth and spreading out through the mountain. As the dwarfs went to explore the cavern the Balrog struck along with the goblins and orcs who had allied themselves. The Balrog escaped its prison and it looked like until now the dwarfs had fought against it to the last man.

Harry replaced the book in the dead dwarf's arms.

'Well, let's hope we don't run into this Balrog thing. It doesn't sound like a pleasant sort of creature.' Harry thought to himself as he moved to a door leading out of the back of the room. He had never been this way before so he tried his best to find a way out. After a week of roaming the remains of the once great dwarf made halls, Harry finally found himself in a familiar hall. This time though it was much darker. As he bore witness to the signs of battle, he had been more and more worried of what he would run into in the mines. He had, at that time, remembered he owned an invisibility cloak and had used it often to avoid detection but never let an opportunity go by to kill an orc if he could get away with it. His bow worked perfectly for the stealthy hit and run attacks, as well as causing a great amount of chaos and confusion for his enemies. What worried him the most though were the giant scorch marks that were burned into the rock or the burned bodies of both dwarf and orc that littered those areas.

Sitting down to rest Harry started thinking about what he had been through the past few days. He was tired of being underground. He felt trapped and wanted to see the sun again. With those thoughts he cast a few wards around him then drifted off into a light slumber.

Harry was jerked into wakefulness as the ground under him shook. 'Boom' it shook again this time louder. Adrenaline pumping Harry quickly stood and drew his wand. The ground shook again then again and again. Each time closer and closer and coming from the direction he needed to be going in. Soon the darkness was being driven back and light from dozens of torches seemed to be coming his way. Harry hoped that it was a group of dwarfs trying to take back the mines.

The hope was dashed quickly as a monster strait out of hell entered the hall. It was made of fire and shaped vaguely humanoid. Its feet looked like hoofed clubs, huge arms with giant claws for hands. Fiery wings jutted from its back an huge burning horns wrapped from the top of it's head to just in front of his mouth. Four titanic fangs jutted from the closed jaws.

"Ho…ly…Shit." Harry breathed out.

The creature's head whipped around at the sound of the noise. Spotting Harry it opened his mouth and roared. Harry noticed that even its throat was lined in fire. The Balrog reached around his hip and pulled out a flaming whip and started moving toward Harry.

Survival instincts kicked in and Harry started throwing spell after spell at the creature all the while ducking and shielding himself from the flaming whip. Finally getting pissed at not getting anywhere Harry circled his wand around his head and brought it down hard. A hissing molten quicksilver whip erupted from the wand tip. With a crack the whip lashed across the back and wing of the Balrog, cutting the majority of it off. Black blood spilled and boiled on the floor as the creature roared with fury. Another crack and the flaming whip fell from the bleeding hand. Another and another. The Balrog cried in pain as Harry used the only weapon he could get to work so far against the beast. With one last whip the beast fell to the floor as Harry severed the tendons around the things knees.

Dispelling the whip he quickly flicked the wand. Water poured from the tip like a fire hose, drenching the creature. Again it roared with inept fury but was far too injured to do anything at that point. The water dispelled the flames and left a black slimy creature in its wake. It had multiple deep lacerations in its tough skin from where the quicksilver whip had come in contact. Another sharp flick of the wand and metal cords bound themselves around the injured creature. The bellowing was controlled by a quick silencing charm to the mouth.

"Well that wasn't too hard." Harry said to anyone listening. He looked himself over and noticed a few smoking marks that wrapped around his duster. 'Good thing dragon hide is immune to fire' he thought as he checked himself for any more damage. "Thank God for magic though. I can see why you gave the dwarfs such a hard time." The creature only looked at him with blazing fury in its eyes.

"You know you might make a good addition to my staff." Looking the creature over, Harry eventually cut the horns from the creatures head and pulled the four jutting fangs. He also bottled a large amount of the blood still seeping from the many wounds into a good amount of spelled vials. Harry doubted the blood would be good for his staff but it might make a great potions ingredient. He also took some of the slime to run tests on. If he was right the stuff was probably like napalm that the muggles used back in his own world. It could be a useful weapon.

After taking what he wanted Harry left the creature where it was. If some of the things he had gotten from it were as good as he believed he would have to come back and get more. With that he left the mines of Moria and set out back into the world.

The years passed quickly for the wizard and Harry sought any type of training he could get. He had run across a man who called himself a ranger while was making his way to the shire to see what a hobbit looked like and ended up traveling and fighting many dark creatures together. Along the way the two became friends.

Aragorn had spent many months with him helping his sword technique in exchange for his services. The two got along famously together as both were quite modest with their talents. Eventually Harry confided in Aragorn about his magical abilities after they had been attacked by wargs that were ridden by orcs. That night Harry set up a blood ward and by the morning dozens of wolfs and riders were dead after trying to cross. Aragorn only looked at Harry in amazement. Never in all the old stories of Elrond had he ever heard of a wizard being able to manipulate his magic as Harry could. Still after much urging to go with him to the elves he agreed to keep Harry's secret but reserved the right to call on him and break that secret if the time was dire. Agreeing the two spent years searching and exploring Middle Earth.

Sometime in Harry's tenth year in Middle Earth, he, Aragorn and a wizarding friend Gandalf the Gray, were traveling the borders of Lothlorien when for the first time since he had come to this world he felt a probing on his mind. Panicking Harry threw his crude mental shield up. Luckily they were far enough away that the probe was extremely weak.

"Who lives in these woods?" Harry questioned his fellow riders as he gazed deeply into the dense forest below them.

"This is the wood of Lothlorien. Home of Celeborn and Galadriel, king and queen of the elves in this area." Answered Gandalf. "Why do you ask?" He was curious of the lad. They had been traveling together for a year now in search for Gollum to try to find some information about the One Ring from the vile creature and he had noticed the whispered conversations between his old friend and his new one.

Stopping the tan mare Harry looked at the two. "Can't you feel it. The push on your minds. Someone is trying to invade our minds and the source is coming from that direction."

"I have always had such strange feelings as passed these lands. Like a presence watching my movements. Is this what you speak of?" Asked Aragorn looking worried.

"Yes, do you know anything about it Gandalf?"

"I do but tell me how a mortal not even of the race of Dunedain could feel that presence. To my knowledge only those of long lived men, elf or wizard are able to understand what the Witch Queen does as she watches her lands."

Harry and Aragorn looked at each other, the later giving the former a significant look. "You can trust Gandalf Harry. He has been my friend for many years since even my childhood long ago. I do not believe him to be as meddlesome as your Dumbledore or a spy of any kind."

"Of course not!" Replied an indignant Gandalf. "Spy!" The gray mage harrumphed. "I ought to lace you to one of my fireworks and send you beyond the clouds for such a thing."

"Fear not my old friend." Aragorn laughed. "Our young Harry has many secrets, some of which he has shared with me. Secrets that could end or even start wars for his services."

"Really now?" Gandalf gazed deeply at Harry. "I would hope that after a year of traveling and fighting together you would come to trust me."

"It's not that Gandalf. I do count you as one of my closest friends here. It's just what I have to keep secret is that for a very good reason."

"Alright," Harry continued. "What would you say if I told you that I have fought a Balrog by myself and defeated it without sustaining any injuries myself?"

"Impossible." The old magician replied with certainty. "They were some of the most powerful abominations ever created by Morgoth and Sauron and I have seen even countless elves fall at one's hand."

"Let's head away from the probing of the Witch then I will tell you some of my tale." Harry cast a murderous gaze as he felt the legilimancy attack focus on him and push harder trying to get past his defenses. With a mental push he grabbed the attack and forcefully ejected it from his mind, slamming it back into the caster's.

"Lady Galadriel is not our enemy my young friend." Gandalf laid a hand on his shoulder to draw his attention away from the wood.

"I don't consider any one a friend who forcefully tires to break into my mind to see my thoughts. They are mine and mine alone unless I give that person access." Harry replied heatedly. He took a deep breath as the old mage looked at him worriedly. "You will understand better after I tell you my tale. I am not mad you. You need not worry."

Later that night and a good few miles further from Lothlorien Harry sat across a good camp fire contemplating what he would tell Gandalf.

"Well now that we have eaten our fill why don't you start young Harry." Gandalf prompted after quite a few minutes of waiting.

"Well first let me show you how wrong you were earlier." Harry gave a cheeky smirk to the elder mage. It had been rare that he had been able to correct Gandalf instead of being the one to be corrected.

From the black duster, that had acquired a few more slight scratches but nothing had been able to penetrate it so far. That combined with his dwarven armor had kept him safe all those years, he pulled his shrunken trunk. Placing a finger on top of it and pushing his activating the charm the trunk expanded.

"By all the gods." Gandalf said in awe of the site. "You are a wizard?"

"Yea, but that's beside the point." Harry's smirk widened at the dumb struck look on the old man's face. "This is my trunk. A good friend of mine back home helped me make it." Harry went on to show the compartments and how they expanded, further awing the elder.

When Harry reached the ingredient portion of his trunk Harry started routing around trying to find the pieces of the Balrog he had chopped off. As he leaned his entire top half of his body into the space, using one hand to keep from falling in, Aragorn laughed. It was followed by Gandalf. It wasn't every day one could see a site as such when on the outside it should seem impossible.

Finally Harry pulled out the jars that held the two horns and another with some of the slime and blood. He handed them to Gandalf. "Be careful with that clear one and the black one. After the fight I took the horns obviously but I also took some of it's blood, that's the black one. The clear is some sort of secretion that covered it's body. I've been doing some test with it the past couple of years and found it to be extremely flammable. As a matter of fact if I were to through this little bottle into the fire it would incinerate everything in a ten foot radius."

Harry then told Gandalf a small bit about himself, from the time of his childhood (minus much to do with the Dursleys) to the present leaving out things he wished to be kept secret like his mithril armor. Harry explained that the things in his trunk were for a staff he wanted to fashion when he though he understood magic enough to use it.

That was something that bothered him. After reading everything he could in his multi-books on staff making he found that in addition to the casting being done by intent and vision but it required an understanding of magic that perhaps only Dumbledore had known during his time. After that Harry concentrated on studying theory and anything he could from the books to help him understand more about magic in general and how it is used and what it is. Doing this was helping in other ways as well. Before when had fought the Balrog he had to still say the incantation he wanted for the magic to work. He had come to understand the magic enough to be able to only perform basic wand movements to instigate the effect, for instance a jab, flick or swipe of his wand. Now however he was able bend the magic to his intentions without incanting. It was difficult and one had to have a through understanding of what magic was and how it was used to do it but it was the last step before he could effectively use a staff.

Harry spent hours telling the two of his world and the battles he fought in. He explained Voldemort and what he had deduced from the final curse he had used. They spent even more time debating if they actually created a universe or if it just somehow created a gate to another world or reality coming to no real conclusion.

That night Harry stayed awake, eating one of the elf packed meals in his trunk to keep him from tiring. He read through the night trying to find something to help him with his much neglected occlumency training. Before he left it had been a major issue as he realized how easy a legilimancer like Riddle could predict his spells and moves. When he arrived in Middle Earth he had forgotten almost all about it after a few weeks of practicing. The attempted intrusion from the Witch of Lothlorien, Harry again felt the familiar vulnerability he hadn't felt for years and he didn't like it one bit. He had spent years in this world making sure he was the one in control of situations and could take care of himself. He would no allow some wanna be spell caster to enter his head.

In the early pre-dawn morning Harry sat reading Godric's journal for any hints on where he might start his search. The journal had been a wealth of knowledge be since he had found it and he swore he had read something about when the Founders were studying the mind arts but he couldn't remember what it was.

…_We have finished the castle today and I must say it is a marvelous sight. The plans that our Mentor provided us worked out better than any of us expected. The amount of magic used seems to have brought the castle into it's own since of awareness and I can only think that it will increase as time goes on and more magic is used in the school. The one part I will remember most was when Mentor created a magical room that could respond to the request of the person inside. Magic was used in a way that I have never seen before in the making and it was amazing to watch. _

_Rowena has been spending a lot of time with him, as I believe she has a crush, but was able to tell us one of the reason Mentor was able to use magic the way he could was because of his study in mind arts. It has taken all four of us many months to determine what these "mind arts" are. Apparently there are two types of magic that can be done with just one's mind if they are skilled enough. Occlumency and Legilimency are the arts of shielding your mind from outside influences, occlumency, and using your mind to influence and see into other's minds, legilimency. _

_For some reason all of us feared asking Mentor what the arts were. I don't understand why we were so reluctant. He has never intentionally held information from us before even when we talked about the vile form of magic used in horcruxes. It seems though that through the use of occlumency it sorts memories into quickly accessible ways therefore having the included side effect of an almost perfect memory even from events that happened in childhood. This is in addition to building a 'wall' around your mind to keep out unwanted guests. The legilimency helps with casting magic because it helps the user feel what it is like to push magic to do your bidding. Mentor told us this is why he can no longer use a wand and only a staff, because the force of his magic is just too great and is bottled by the wand keeping him from his full potential…_

…_Mentor has told us there are two ways of learning these arts. The best way is just like learning any other magic, time and practice. This is the path my friends and I had chosen until now. It has been six months and we all have formed week mental shields and have sorted some of our memories but we are quickly becoming frustrated. Therefore we have decided together to talk to Mentor in the morning and ask him to help us with the second way of learning the mind arts, a ritual, which he has informed us he did to gain proficiency…_

…_We just finished our talk and I am both excited and worried at the same time. Mentor told us it was probably the most painful ritual he has ever accomplished and that is saying much since we are aware of the rituals he has performed to gain his power. Still the benefits seem to out weigh the negatives. The ritual is as follows. To anyone reading this please follow my Mentor's instructions of studying the ritual for at least two months before attempting. It is suppose to be much more difficult than it seems. We Founders have agreed to study it for six months before we try it…_

…_Six months have come and gone while we four have put our utmost into our preparations for this ritual. It has been much harder than I could have ever imagined. Tomorrow I under go the ritual and I will list my results here if I can. The more I learn of the consequences the less appealing the gain seems…_

…_It is six weeks since my last entry and the ritual worked like it was suppose to. I don't know a way to explain the pain of my memories being forced on me and rearranged inside my head. I can't describe the pain of the burrowing of the magical channels through my head as the legilimency probes formed and I don't know how to explain the pain I was in having a wall forcefully built around my mind. It felt of evil magic that violated my own mind but only for a short time. The presence is gone now but I understand the reason Mentor wouldn't want us to choose this path._

It was light outside when Harry finished reading the entries and how the ritual was done and he vowed to himself he would study it as long as Godric did and take his word to heart. Though he still felt he needed to do it. If the Founders couldn't do much in six months it would take him forever. And he didn't have that long.

The next day the trio set off in their search once again passing mile after mile with no sight of the creature known as Gollum. To help easy the weary journey Gandalf asked Harry what he could do with magic.

"I am able to do many things. With my magic I can do deeds that would go down in history either for good or for evil. Magic in general, even yours, I believe, is based on the intent of the user. I know curses that could bring down the tops of mountain and others that could heal a sword wound. I have used a curse that turned a person's blood to acid which ate him from the inside out to save an alley full of innocents. I have created a bomb that blew up hundreds of magical creatures to save my friends and me. Many in my world would classify me as evil or at least a dark wizard for using those. I have done many things that I can only justify as for the greater good. They weigh on my soul but I'm not sorry. They kept me and my friends alive."

"I see." Gandalf sat pensive on his horse as the day passed. He had never told Aragorn some of the more evil things he had done.

After an hour of speechless riding Aragorn spoke up. "Why, Harry, do you sound so defeated when you talk of your home world?"

After contemplating the question he answered. "You have to understand in my world I'm famous. Everyone in the country knows me and wants to know about me. I imagine it would be how a king felt when he milled about his subjects. The eyes of the entire world were constantly on me for something I don't even remember and if what Dumbledore and I think happed really did then I had very little do with it. A curse that kills any human on contact struck my head. And for the first time in recorded history it rebounded on the caster taking his body. I was hailed as the Boy-Who-Lived. Since then it's only gotten worse. Then I found out that a prophesy was made. It said I was the only person who could kill Voldemort. Me, an eighteen year old boy. I am the only person on earth capable of killing a wizard so terrifying and powerful that people fear to speak his name."

"I told you about Hogwarts and how it is a school that trains young wizards and witches like myself and how Dumbledore was killed by one of our teachers. After that though I hid away with my three dearest friends. We were closer than mere brother and sister. For over a year we studied in seclusion, training for the war that had already started. Voldemort had taken measures to keep him in the mortal plane and before we were even going to have a chance to kill him we needed to destroy them first. Any way we did a lot of rituals to improve ourselves. Some were light, others darker but we hadn't done anything evil yet. But we did. We each did a ritual that could only be considered evil to strengthen us. To tell you the truth, I am not sorry for it either."

Gandalf looked shrewdly at Harry every so often after the tale. Harry knew that he was trying to decide if he was a treat or not. Even though he had not told them what he had done, Gandalf was a skilled enough magic user to guess what had been done. As they bedded down that night Aragorn turned to Harry. "I am sorry that one as young as you had to take such drastic means to merely survive and I am sorry if my question overstepped or friendship. I too know the feeling of having people's lives on my shoulders. I would think that I too would take all the steps I needed to keep my friends out of danger. Goodnight my friend and try not to let the weight of your heart bother you."

Harry nodded happy to know that so far his best friend in this world didn't think anything less of him. The sight of Gandalf's judging look took away all the comfort. He made a vow that he wouldn't tell anyone else what he had done. He hated being judged by those who couldn't know what he had to go through.

The next few days they rode and Harry showed Gandalf some of his spells. He never showed any of the more powerful ones or those that could cause a lot of destruction. He had a feeling the old wizard was using the show as a possible way to judge how much of a threat he really was.

After another six nights of reading and studying the journal and the mind art ritual Harry was ready to just leave. Gandalf had not warmed to him but on the contrary seemed to grow even colder. So as they camped the next night Harry turned to Aragorn and smiled sadly. He had traveled with his friend for many days and nights. It would be hard leaving him but he needed to get away from Gandalf. He turned to the old mage and spoke.

"I know you think of me as an enemy Gandalf but you couldn't be further from the truth. I may have used dark mean to achieve my ends but I never used innocents and I have always fought for truth, justice and those who were not able to defend themselves. I have never bowed to any man light or dark lord and have always trusted the good judgment and morals that my parents instilled in me for the fifteen months I was with them. Slight me if you will but know this, you will wish me your ally and friend when the worse comes. Good bye to you. And you my friend." He turned to Aragorn. "We have shared many adventures together and a better man I have never found. We might meet again before the end."

With that Harry apparated away with a soft 'pop'. The two men stared at the spot Harry had just disappeared from for a moment both shocked to see someone just vanish from a spot. After insuring Harry was really gone and it wasn't just a trick like Bilbo's ring Aragorn turned to Gandalf and let the old wizard have a piece of his mind.

Harry listened from behind a tree some distance away and chuckled. It did sound as though the old wizard was getting an ear full. As he took his broom from his trunk he berated himself yet again. He needed to stop trusting people so easily, especially when they couldn't understand the circumstances. Mounting his broom he rocketed in the sky and let his worries disappear. He loved flying and the trill and freedom it offered him. He knew the time was starting to draw close to when he would be needed every skill he had to save lives and so he really needed to get back to training.

He flew and flew until the sun was high the next day. He finally found a place that would be perfect for him. An abandoned home on the top of a hill covered in wild flowers. At the bottom of the hill ran a small river. It would be his home for however long it took to finish what he needed to do.

Over the next year Harry concentrated on the how and why of magic as well as studying the ritual. He had quickly learned that the potion he was to make was well beyond his ability to make at that time so he concentrated his effort in that area of study. It was much easier learning as he used his multi-book to start learning the art all over again. Slowly he started to become more proficient in the subtle science. He made very few potions having only a set supply of ingredients from home but made many of the potions that he though would help him.

Over the year Harry had magically dug into the rock beneath the house and set up a potions lab and a ritual chamber even deeper in the earth. The lab was lined ceiling to floor with his ingredients. In the four corners of the room near the ceiling hung four white magical lights that gave off plenty of light to work with and made it much easier to read and study in than with the dim lighting of torches. Vents had been cut back to the surface and the air magically circulated through the room. The places in his trunk that use to be filled with haphazardly strewn about ingredients now held orderly rows of vial after vial of potions that Harry though he might need at some time. Maybe not for himself but for someone else. The vials held everything from Dreamless Sleep potions to Blood Replenishing potions to a blank space.

He was now working on the last four potions he would need to make before he deemed himself worthy of making the potion needed for his ritual. He had already started the Felix Felicis. It was currently simmering in the corner behind a protective barrier of magic. It would have to simmer for another two months with some stirring involved at specific times. A timer was on the wall counting down to the next step which was written on a large piece of parchment stuck on the wall next to the timer. Check marks knocked off the steps already completed and the next step was magically magnified so it would be easy to view from the cauldron.

Beside it on another table was another simmering cauldron that was in its second week of brewing. Beside it were another sheet of parchment with directions and a timer also counting down. On the top of the parchment listed Veritaserum. It had a long shelf life and the full cauldron would last through all the interrogations he would ever need to do.

Another empty desk stood beside that. This had another timer which was at zero currently as it was still waiting for the potion to be placed there. The parchment had Wolfsbane listed on it and had a few checked steps. Harry was currently in front of a large table in the center of the room standing over a large silver cauldron adding his already carefully diced lacewing flies. He stirred it in an even rhythm until it turned from a yellow/green color to a more silver/white color. Nodding to himself he removed the silver ladle and check off a step on the parchment beside him. The parchment of the wall above the blank cauldron magically checked its self as well. After carefully moving the cauldron to the empty desk and setting a fire under it to the correct temperature then setting the protective shield he smiled and let out a deep breath.

The Wolfsbane had been the hardest potion to date due to the need to follow lunar cycles not only when getting the ingredients but also brewing the potion. The ingredients he had didn't state when they were picked and he wouldn't really trust some guy he didn't know anyway. Luckily during his travels he had found quite a few plants that had matched up with what he had in his own world. After tracking them down in Middle Earth had been a chore he had eventually found what he needed and procured it at the right time of month. It was lucky the potion only took fairly basic plant ingredients. He had been worried that he would have to track down some weird sort of animal. If that was the case he didn't think he would be able to practice the potion. As it stood now everything was correct according to the description given to him in the large leather and steel bound book still sitting on the large desk in the middle of the lab.

He had one more potion that he wanted to complete for his store and that one might be one of the most important. Polyjuice Potion was easier technically than the other three but it always brought back the good memories he had with his Ron, Hermione and even Ginny. After fifteen years of being separated from them he still missed them dearly and knew they were missing him. They each shared a bond that not even being separated by an entire dimension could break it.

As the months passed, he tended to the potions he was already brewing and bottled those he had finished. The Polyjuice and Wolfsbane finished in the same week. The silver Wolfsbane filled six bottles so that would take care of Remus for three months when he got back home. Since he was able to find the ingredients here in Middle Earth Harry decided that he would try to make the potion every month. He wanted to try to make it better but knew that he didn't have the knowledge that was needed.

Life passed lazily for Harry and if he had to admit it to himself he would say he was happy to be able to finally live a quiet life. He figured he had been in this new dimension for nineteen years now but when he looked in the mirror he didn't look like he had aged a more than a year at most. He hadn't grown any but had filled out his lean frame much more than before. His features were sharper and it looked like the last vestiges of boyhood had been stripped from his body. His eyes now held power and wisdom that few held. They glittered when happy but turned into a raging inferno when angry. His hair was still as messy as ever but he had come to like it. It was part of who he was and it gave him distinction among crowds. He was becoming more appreciative of his individuality now that he was growing older, at least in mental years if not physical.

Harry kept up a vigorous work schedule over the years he stayed in his little house. Running and swimming to keep him lean and to strengthen his muscles but not to bulk them up. He had started doing yoga after he found a book detailing the practice in his multi-book. After nearly three years of practice he was now extremely flexible and he had found it did wonders for calming his stressed mind, helping with his constant battle to learn occlumency the slow but less painful way. It seemed to be an exercise in futility it seemed. Harry figured that something must be blocking his progress and he figured it was his link to Voldemort. Probably helped along by Snape. After spending his morning practicing his physical work he would retreat into the house and start his studies.

He hunted when he needed to. He was loathed to used all the elf made dinners encase he needed them later when times where lean. He had traded with the people in the towns near by for grain and seeds. He now was the proud owner of a large garden. Thanks to a few potions and magic in general every plant was currently loaded with its assigned fruit and twice as large as any Harry had seen before. Each stalk of corn was ten feet tall with at least fifty, foot long, ears on it. The stalks of wheat and barley were as tall as Harry. It was the same with all the vegetables, tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, lettuce, squash, cabbage, nearly anything that could be planted was.

Harry had also kept up his exploring. He had met many people in his explorations. Many an elf he had befriended, same with dwarves, which many knew him if not of him. He had spent some weeks in the White City of Gondor and while there helped fight down a host of orcs who had tried to invade the city. He stayed away from using magic as he didn't want to alienate himself but still fought more bravely and deadly than the other soldiers beside perhaps Faramir and Boromir who were both sons of the Steward of Gondor and sat as ruler of the city until the rightful heir of Isiuldur returned to claim the throne. As it was Denethor, an old man, had sat in the high seat for his entire life and Harry personally thought he was an ass and reminded him a great deal of Fudge back home. He sincerely doubted that if the heir did come back to reclaim the throne he would refuse to give it up. The two brothers were quite different from their father however. Faramir was more of a scholar than a warrior. Smaller of stature but still skilled in battle. He and Harry spent many hours talking and laughing about one thing or another and Harry enjoyed talking to someone who he could bounce theories off of. Boromir was the apple of Denethor's eye. Tall, strong and handsome, he was exactly the picture of who you would think of as a king. He tended to act first then think but his amazing fighting ability kept him from harm most of the time. He and Harry had also spent hours together dueling and practicing and talking about things. Each night all three would usually get together and talk about the state of Middle Earth. It was from these that Harry learned much about the lore and history of the lands. They had all worried together at the growing cloud of darkness that was coming from the East behind a set of mountains that looked taller and sharper than anything Harry had seen before.

As Harry left he tried to get into the land known as Mordor but his every attempt was stymied. He could see in the distance thousands of orcs building a hideous tower under the watchful gaze of some kind of fiery eye. The menevalent power he could feel even from his distance told the raven hair wizard it was an extraordinarily powerful dark lord and without a body he wasn't even at his full power. It also seemed that some kind of ward he had never seen or heard of was placed over the land. Try as he might he couldn't get in. He left for his home far away from the Eye knowing he had to hurry. War was coming to Middle Earth and he knew that he would be in the middle of it. He was never able to just walk away from things such as this to save his own skin.

In the winter of his nineteenth year Harry was finally ready to take the Mind Art potion. From his studies he found that it was some kind of knowledge transfer and summoning ritual. That worried him as he had no clue what he could be summoning but he figured that all five of the Founders had done it so at least he could.

Outside the ground was covered in layers of snow. A large bare patch could be seen where once was a thriving garden. Inside the little house it was warm with a cherry fire burning. Down a set of steps lead a tunnel that went deep in the earth. Small red balls of light illuminated the passage. A large, thick wooden door stood open to what was a potions lab. Harry walked further down the stairs carrying a small cauldron of a bubbling blackish red liquid. As he reached the final step he tapped the wall with his wand and a large slab of stone slid quietly out of the way and allowed him entrance.

He immediately set to work using the concoction in the cauldron to draw runes on specific spots on the walls. Each corner had a large torch giving light to the room. A stunned and bound orc lay on the floor. Time passed as Harry prepared the room to the requirements. When he finished he drew shapes around his head, which was now bald, with the last of the potion. Setting the cauldron aside he took four large beakers of blood, Harry's blood, and poured each one over the fire of the torches in the room. As he did, instead of banking the flames, the fire turned a bloody red. Placing the glass beakers in the cauldron Harry moved to the center of the room and picked up a crystal dagger he had made for this ritual. He knelt down in the exact center of the room and started chanting. Even though he was attempting to speak normally the sound coming from his mouth could only be described as demonic. The orc, who had waken at some point in the preparations, thrashed wildly trying to escape, scarred more than it had ever been in its miserable life. Holding the dagger point down by both hands above his head Harry chanted the last of his incantation and drove the dagger down into the heart of the orc. The blood of his sacrifice spilled onto the floor and flowed to each of the runes Harry had drawn earlier on the wall and himself. Blood red fire from the torches lashed about setting the bloody runes on fire that kept growing and growing until it slammed into the runes around the wizard's head. Harry closed his eyes and screamed as the fire burned into his mind.

The pain stopped suddenly and Harry opened his eyes.

A/N: Wow it feels like it's been so long since I've posted anything. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year no matter where you live. I certainly had a great holiday season. But now back to the grind stone so to speak.

If anyone is looking for something to ease the wait time between posts look into reading David Eddings books. I received the Belgariad and Malloreon series recently and found I have loved them. When this is over you can expect a crossover with that world. It really is the perfect world for a Harry Potter crossover.

Every Thanks again to vampgoddesss, formerly vampireladyateres, for her wonderful Beta job. Without her hard work I would be posting… Let's just say THANK YOU.


	4. Chapter 4

Previously On Buying Time: 

_He immediately set to work using the concoction in the cauldron to draw runes on specific spots on the walls. Each corner had a large torch giving light to the room. A stunned and bound orc lay on the floor. Time passed as Harry prepared the room to the requirements. When he finished he drew shapes around his head, which was now bald, with the last of the potion. Setting the cauldron aside he took four large beakers of blood, Harry's blood, and poured each one over the fire of the torches in the room. As he did, instead of banking the flames, the fire turned a bloody red. Placing the glass beakers in the cauldron Harry moved to the center of the room and picked up a crystal dagger he had made for this ritual. He knelt down in the exact center of the room and started chanting. Even though he was attempting to speak normally the sound coming from his mouth could only be described as demonic. The orc, who had waken at some point in the preparations, thrashed wildly trying to escape, scarred more than it had ever been in its miserable life. Holding the dagger point down by both hands above his head Harry chanted the last of his incantation and drove the dagger down into the heart of the orc. The blood of his sacrifice spilled onto the floor and flowed to each of the runes Harry had drawn earlier on the wall and himself. Blood red fire from the torches lashed about setting the bloody runes on fire that kept growing and growing until it slammed into the runes around the wizard's head. Harry closed his eyes and screamed as the fire burned into his mind._

_The pain stopped suddenly and Harry opened his eyes. _

Chapter 4

It hadn't seemed like the pain Godric had described in his journal. As he looked around he noticed he was in a different place. It was still a rather small stone room but now there was only a thing of humanoid shape sitting across from him. It had a body like a human but its skin was ebony black. For hands and feet it had deadly sharp claws. Its face was long and angled. Its mouth held a row of sharp teeth and it had long pointy ears sticking out of hair that was just as black as its skin. The only colors the being had on it were the blood red runes covering its face, the porcelain white of the teeth and the blood red of the eyes surrounding the black pupils.

"It has been quite a while since I have been summoned." Said the creature across from Harry. "Those four sought what you are after as well. Shields to protect their mind from invasion."

Figuring the being in front of him was referring to the Founders, Harry nodded his agreement. "I have a book from one of them that told me how to perform this ritual. It is very secret and I don't know if anyone besides he and his friends did the ritual since." Harry stammered. He had no doubt the thing in front of him could kill him in an instant if it wanted to.

The thing laughed softly. "Yes child I could kill you quickly but you do have power. I can feel it in you but your mind is open as a book. To satisfy your curiosity, no, no one has summoned me for my assistance since the time of your Founders. To answer your other question I am a demon, The Demon if you will, though we are given a rather bad name in your world."

Harry blanched then felt a sickly dread fill his stomach. 'What if Voldemort somehow summoned some of these demons to do his bidding?'

"We do not come to the bidding of anyone!" The demon spit out after reading Harry's thoughts. "The only reason I am here is because of the sacrifices you have offered me. The soul of the creature will be fun toying with and the knowledge you have will assist me in the continued domination of my world. It is a mutual benefit we both gain. Worry not about your little squabbles with your dark lords, we will not interfere."

Harry nodded. "Thank you. May I ask what you will be doing?"

The demon looked both impatient and shrewd. "You are only the second human that has bothered to ask me that question in more than ten thousand years."

After a pause it continued. "You don't look like much but you have power, like I said before, and you are looking for more. You fight bravely but not stupidly. You are shrewd and cunning. You are smart, oh yes, and you are loyal to those you call friends. You hold the willingness to do whatever needs to be done. Very well then." It seemed to be sorting out its thoughts. "I will delve into your mind and use my power to force yours to form shields around your mind. I will pull your magic into your mind and create new magical channels for you to send attacks into other's minds. I will give you the knowledge of how to maintain your shield and attack others. That is all I am required to do but I think I will give you more if you want it." Harry nodded his head.

"I have gained much of your knowledge from our time together already but your life intrigues me. If you are willing I will sort your memories for you like I did for your four Founders and then, unlike them, I will channel your magic and give you knowledge to not only shield your mind but ways to make unwanted guests rue the day they tried. It will all be very painful." The demon grinned lecherously at the wizard.

It didn't take long for Harry to think it over before he mentally agreed to the whole thing. "You are only going to view the memories as you sort them, nothing else, correct? And will there be any other side effects to this?"

The demon grinned again, seemingly proud and amused at the questions. "I will only view the memories and give you my knowledge and then leave your mind. As for side effects, your head will hurt worse than you ever thought imaginable. Your magic will probably be erratic until you get use to the new channels. Your body will probably hurt because as I create and enlarge the new channel, it will also force the other channels in your body in increase in size as well. After your mind and body heal, you should be able to remember things in greater detail, recall pages in books, learn quicker, that sort of thing. Now if you are done with your questions, I would like to get started so I can return to my world and ensure some idiot hasn't tried to take my throne."

Harry nodded and quicker than he could follow, even with his enhanced senses, the demon's sharp claws slammed into his head and sunk though skin and bone. Pain worse than being possessed in the Ministry wracked his frame and his mouth opened in a silent scream of agony. Memories and knowledge rushed into his mind at a rate he couldn't comprehend. He could feel his magic burrowing though his body slowly pushing and expanding. The foreign power of the demon pulsed in his newly integrated core forcing the channels of magic to his hands, muscles, eyes, groin, blood and all different places to expand so more and more magic could pass though.

It felt like his body was on fire, muscles tore from the strain, bones broke and were remade with his magic assisting in removing any defects regardless of the ritual he had done years earlier. Suddenly it felt like the demon's claws were tearing though his mind, pulling out one memory after the other. As it viewed them so did Harry. In addition to the physical abuse, he was now going through mental torture as well. Every good, bad or in between memory was removed before they were viewed again, this time in order of when they occurred. It could have taken years for all Harry knew as the pain continued past the point of endurance but he wasn't allowed the black peace of unconsciousness or insanity.

Finally it was over and the black claws slid from the wizard's head as he collapsed to the ground. The demon moved back to his own chair looking contemplative. The boy had been through much in his young life but it had no want to assist the boy past this point. This Voldemort character could cause problems though if he were allowed to win the war. It was inevitable that he would seek different worlds to rule if he won his and with the amount of power he already had it would be difficult for many of his warriors to beat him. He looked down at the boy at his feet, the only one that would be able to defeat the man. One more thing wouldn't hurt. He knelt beside the boy and placed his hand over his heart. A bloody light came out of the hand and sunk into Harry's chest and the demon grinned. Yes, giving him even more strength would help him if the boy was correct about the spell, which the aged demon agreed with. Expanding his magic would help as well. The demon magic would assist in the battle and dark spells the boy knew and wouldn't interfere with the lighter and healing spells or rituals he had done.

As he stood and readied himself to leave he smirked. He was sure the boy would be one hell of a mage one day. After all he had already seen it. With a shimmer the demon was gone from the stone room leaving the boy on the floor to find his own way back.

As Harry spent hours on the cold stone he sweated with fever and magic pulsed all around him causing anything not tied into the stonework to be tossed around like dust.

A lone figure of glowing white seemed to materialize beside him and held him as he thrashed about. Pearly tears fell from her eyes as her flowing red hair gently fell onto the boy's face.

Hours passed as the angelic figure soothed the boy's injured mind, body and spirit, never letting go. When Harry started to wake he thought he could feel someone holding him and he could hear a soft beautiful voice singing gently to him. He was able to open his eyes just long enough to see a woman with long red hair holding him before he fell back into sleep. The song stopped and he thought he heard the woman speak "Sleep my baby boy, sleep" before the darkness took him once more

When Harry awoke again he was in the same stone room. He still felt sick and fevered but he was more coherent than the last time he woke. The beautiful woman he had only thought to be a dream was still there. Still refusing to relinquish her hold of him.

Seeing the boy awake she smiled. "Hello Harry. Are you feeling better?"

Harry could do nothing but stare. He had seen her before, many times actually. This, however, was the first time he had seen her in anything but a memory or a photo.

"Mum?" She nodded as new tears slid down her cheeks. Harry only sat in stared into her sparkling green eyes. Eyes that so many said he had and could now understand why everyone thought them to be so unique and beautiful. His eyes roamed her face, drinking in every inch of her. His hand rose and softly brushed away her tears but he made no other attempts to remove himself from her grasp. "But how?" His own eyes starting to water and his voice was thick with emotion.

"Many reasons my baby." Harry smiled cherishing the endearment from his mother. She was probably the only person in any realm who he would let call him that. "Mostly because you are now in a place that allows two people from different dimensions to meet. It is an ancient place that very few know about."

"I've missed you so much mum. I'm so sorry for everything I've done." It was like a dam burst as emotions of everything he had done to ensure he gained more power flooded his thoughts. All the insecurities and feelings of unworthiness flooded him as he cried for the first time he could remember into his mother's lap.

Lily Potter held her son close, comforting him in the only way she could. She tried to show him how much she loved him and would always no matter what he ever did. It was something only a parent could understand. It was truly unconditional love. The still-sick boy's sobs quieted as rhythmic breathing took its place and she knew her son had fallen asleep once again.

Harry woke once more hours later and spent more hours talking to his mother. He told her all about his life from the time she died until then. She had known a few things as they were able to look into what was happening to their loved ones but due to a time ratio difference it was hard to be watching everything. Harry learned that during all the more difficult times in his life his parents were watching and trying to help him in the only way they could, by loving him. She talked to him about the dark rituals he had preformed and they came to an understanding. Neither of them was happy that he had to do it but they both understood that he did. Lily had told Harry about how the war went when she and James were living. Dumbledore had always made it seem that they only captured Death Eaters but learned that they fought much like he did now, if they tried to kill him he would do the same to them, equal force.

Lily was ecstatic to learn about Middle Earth but worried at the seemingly impending battle soon to come. Soon however Harry started to feel a pull as the magic of the ritual dissipated dragging him back to his reality.

"How do I come back Mum?" Harry asked as he felt the pull.

"I don't know. I'm sorry. Work on it though. I'm sure you will be able to find a way one day."

"I love you Mum. Tell Dad I love him and Sirius too. I'll find a way back here, I promise."

"I love you too my baby boy. Stay safe, please stay safe for me."

"I love you so much Mum." Harry wrapped his arms around her for what must have been the millionth time as the pull became greater.

"I know and I love you. Oh quickly, your dad and Sirius say to try to find out about animagi and if you're one. It could help you in the future. I tend to agree. You father was teaching me when we died. Goodbye my wonderful son."

"Bye Mum!" Harry was fading away and his voice was distant. "I love…" The voice faded completely and Harry was gone.

"I know my child. I know." And Lily Potter shimmered from the chamber back to her next adventure and to find a meddlesome old man and kick his ass across the galaxy for all the stupid mistakes he made with her son.

Harry opened his eyes to total darkness and wondered if he had actually opened them at all. He thought back to the past however long it was ago now to everything that had happened to him. First a demon then an angel. He smiled a light and goofy smile as he remembered that the torches must have gone out and waved his hand around the room. A soft light lit the stone chamber showing the mess the ritual left him to clean up. But that could be done another time. He could still feel the chaotic nature of his magic as it hummed and pulsed though his body. Stumbling to his feet he opened the door and crawled up the stairs. He was exhausted as he reached the top and climbed into his waiting bed. It was still warm in the house but the charms were starting to dissipate. That meant he had to have been gone for at least a week to this world's time but no longer than a month. It was dark outside but he could still see the wind howling, pushing snow onto the window of the small house. He waved his hand again and the fireplace lit filling the room with a warm heat much quicker than a normal fire should have. With that Harry Potter passed out under his blankets in the soft warm bed not to wake up for another four days.

It took until spring for Harry to get his magic back under control. After he had finally gained enough strength to start practicing again he would sometimes cast a spell with such power that it either would just blow up whatever it hit or it would be so weak that a simple levitation spell couldn't lift a small pebble. Since the winter snows ruined all chances for physical outdoor running or swimming Harry spent his time working on getting his magic back under control.

When the month of May rolled around, everything settled down for him finally. He noticed the additional strength the demon gave him quickly as he was splitting wood for his fire and preparing the ground for his garden the old fashion way due to the inconsistencies in his magic at the time. Plus it did a bang up job working him back into shape from the winter. If he had to hazard a guess he would say he was nearly twice as strong as he was before and that was saying something. He was also noticeably quicker and nimbler but he didn't know if that was so much because of something the demon did or his use of yoga.

After he started being able to practice magic again, he first set out to practice his occlumency and legilimency as much as he could. Over the months he had become quite adept at retrieving memories from his now sorted mind. Finding the knowledge the demon gave him, he quickly set out to create his barrier. He already had a permanent shield that the demon created after drawing up magic from his core and creating new channels for his magic, but that was all it was, a shield. It would work to keep most out of his head and keep an enemy legilimancer from glancing at what he would do during a fight, but anyone with the strength of Voldemort or even Snape, as disgusted as he was to admit it, would be able to break into his mind with a full blown attack.

For four long days Harry stayed in a trance as he moved his magic around to create defenses. He almost wished someone would test them out for him. The shield around his mind had been turned into a small cottage much like he though Godric's Hollow must have looked like. There was only one way into the house, by the foot path. Every step the attacker would make would bring the pain from an experience Harry had lived through. Not the memory, just the pain he remembered feeling. The first few step caused blows to rain down from his attacks from Dudley while growing up. The next few were from the broken bones from years of quidditch. As they came closer and closer the pain would increase from curses Harry had taken in his life. They would feel the pain of having another's magic forced into your body, the Cruciatus cast by Voldemort himself, from possession and then the pain the demon dealt him when they reached the front door. As they entered they were accosted by a giant Hungarian Horntail dragon, then hippogriff, then the Marauders, a giant Grim, snarling Were-wolf, and majestic stag with razor sharp antlers. If they somehow managed to get past that each step leading them to the nursery where his mind lay would bring heart wrenching sorrows from all the emotional pain he had ever been in. The door to his nursery was guarded by a Siberian tiger. If they somehow managed to get past all that as soon as they touched the door they would relive the memory of Harry getting hit with the Avada Kadavra. Harry was pretty sure no one would ever gain access to his mind without his permission. What he had done had never been done by any human before him. It was a skill the demon gave him and not one humans possessed. The uniqueness of it alone would stop Riddle. The bond they shared let to his mind yes but not through his defenses. He like everyone else would have to bypass them if he ever wanted to gain access to the boy's mind again.

This didn't mean however that he was not able to exit his own shields to attack Riddle. That was one of the beauties of his occlumency shields. Satisfied at now having a barrier that he was sure no one would be able to pass he set to work on the other mind art. Legilimency. After reviewing the steps from his mind he set out to a small town where he would be able to test his new skills. Harry sat on the edge of town and attacked unknowing town folk. It had taken a while to get a hold of the intensity and amount of power to put behind a normal probe. He had managed to completely knock out twenty seven people over the course of a week before he became more comfortable. Still the residence of the town that he practiced on unknowingly gave him feedback on how well he was doing. Many had said they felt like someone was watching them or that they got sudden headaches. Mentally taking notes from the people Harry went to correct his mistakes. After all, if mere muggles could detect his intrusion it was no doubt that a magic user would detect it even easier.

Over the months of spring and summer he had refined his ability greatly. He had traveled to many a town and sent out soft gentle probes and learned much about what was going on. Much was mundane but a few times he managed to connect with people having affairs, lewd thoughts or even lusting for him. Most of it was amusing to him but as more and more people started having thoughts of a growing darkness, Harry grew worried. He had noticed himself the dark creatures roaming just at the edge of his sight during the night. New men showed up in towns that looked almost orcish and had the feeling of mal-intent on them. Harry hadn't been able to get into one's mind yet but he knew that he needed to do so and soon.

Back in the little house on top of the hill of flowers Harry got ready to celebrate his twentieth year in Middle Earth. He figured he was half way through his stay since he was pretty sure when Voldemort said it would take him a hundred and twenty years to challenge him it seemed to change the spell he had cast. He wondered what was going on in his homeland and how much time had passed there. With a nostalgic smile Harry slipped off to sleep.

Pain lanced though his body as the clock struck twelve. A moan escaped his mouth as he noticed it must have just turned midnight. Again a sudden pain wracked him as he dropped to his knees as he was getting out of bed. Grabbing his wand quickly he summoned his duster, boots and sword. He knew this pain. He had felt it twenty years ago when he had arrived. 'Was it time to move on already. I haven't even done anything here yet really. The next jerk was stronger and a scream split the night air. Harry tried to summon his trunk but another jolt of soul wrenching pain disrupted the magic. He quickly dressed and shoved his hat on his head just as another, stronger jerk started pulling at him again. This time he didn't fight the pull but grabbed the thread of magic and pulled with it. Stronger and stronger the pull came as more and more magic pooled together. Suddenly the strangest feeling Harry had ever encountered in his short life happened. It felt like his body and soul split. Most of it rocketed through space and time while a little piece of him stayed behind, connecting him to Middle Earth. Lights of all colors flew past him as he moved quicker than he even thought possible to his next destination. He was no longer in pain but he felt a giant pull of someone's magic as it moved him from one dimension to another. He could only guess that he would be going back since part of him never left. The light suddenly stopped as Harry materialized in the middle of a very familiar alley.

He had returned.

Diagon Alley was deserted at this time of night. It didn't look that much different than the day he left. He could still feel the magic around him that was coming from an unidentified source. As he though about it he smiled a wicked smile as he realized it must be Riddle's energy and magic allowing him to come back home. But for how long? That was the question.

Harry didn't waste any time as he drew his wand and cast a Tempus spell. October 31, 1999, a full year after the fight. He looked over to Gringotts and saw that most of it had been repaired and not wanting to get into another fight with the goblins he moved in the other direction toward the Leaky Cauldron.

Inside Harry found Tom cleaning a glass by the bar. Only a few people were in the bar and none looked very friendly. With his wide brimmed hat concealing his identity he moved to the bar.

"How's business Tom. I haven't seen you in a while."

The old man looked at the new comer with weary eyes and then curiosity. Not many of his customers would dare wear muggle type clothing like this man was. "I'm sorry sir but do I know you?"

"You could say that. Would you mind bringing me a cold butterbeer and a shot of firewhiskey?" He laid a gold coin he had in his pocket on the counter. He never even noticed it was a coin from Middle Earth.

As the bartender brought him his drinks he inspected the coin he was given. It was different but looked to be even more than a galleon. He would have to take it to Gringotts in the morning to find out it's worth. As it was it was nice to have a nicer chap in his tavern for once. "Her you go Sir. I must say it's nice to get a chap in here that doesn't feel evil for once."

Harry knocked back the shot then turned back to Tom. "I could imagine." Harry chuckled. "So how bad is it around these parts? It's been a year since I've left and I don't know how long I will be staying."

"Not as bad as they could be I reckon. After all it has just been the last month or so that the Death Eaters started killing again. We've had nearly eleven months of relative peace thanks to the heroics of Harry Potter, God rest his soul."

"You don't say." Harry sounded amused. "What did the Potter boy do that could have kept Vol… sorry, You-Know-Who from attacking for almost a year?"

"Don't rightly know. I guess I know more than most of the every day types. From what I heard, he used all his magic to kill the boy. Hasn't been able to cast a spell since without nearly knocking himself out."

"Magical exhaustion. Interesting." Harry mused mostly to himself. 'Tommy boy's been knocked out of using his magic the same amount of time I was. But since time was distorted between our two worlds I've had twenty years to his one. And if my guess is correct I'm probably draining all his magic as we speak. I wonder how it will affect him since I'm not using my magic this time. Would it sap all his magic leaving him a muggle, or maybe even kill him? We can only wait and see I guess.'

"Are you alright sir? You've been staring into space for a few minutes."

"Oh, of course, sorry to worry you Tom. Just thinking."

"You seem to know me pretty well but I can't remember seeing you here before. I'm sorry."

"Not at all Tom. After all…" Harry lifted his hat to show more of his face and his scar. His eyes glowed with a new power as they were still in the shadows of his hat. "…I'm supposed to be dead." Harry laughed at the gob smacked expression on the bartender's face. The commotion drew the attention of the other patrons.

"My word. It can't be…" He never got further as Harry snapped his wand out and silenced the man.

"I was never here Tom. I don't know how long I can stay. Something with Voldie's spell sent me to another world and I was able to come back today because of something. I guess it's the same day of the spell or the magic of Halloween. I really don't know. I was as shocked as you are."

The old man nodded as Harry removed the silencing charm and stared at Harry in undisguised awe. "I can't believe you're back. We all thought you were dead when you disappeared. The Ministry declared you dead and everything. My word, I'd never have thought..."

A silky voice came from behind Harry. "So what do we have here boys?" Harry turned to see four vampires that were sitting in the back of the pub had surrounded him. "It looks like we'll get an easy meal tonight. Maybe we'll even bring him to the Dark Lord when we're done with our fun." The others laughed.

"Now wait just a moment. There is no fighting in this establishment. That has been the rule from when it was built and even You-Know-Who abides by it. All races and those on all sides of war can come here without harassment."

"Shut it old man before I send you to the next life and drain you body."

As Tom was about to reply Harry held up a hand. "It's alright Tom. Sometimes talking just doesn't help any." Harry turned back to the vampires. He had felt them coming as soon as they stood but didn't want to cause a scene. The rules Tom just talked about surprised him some but he soon realized that something like that would be needed for the gateway from the muggle to wizarding world. It was kind of like neutral territory. That's not to say that if a convicted criminal was found there by a bunch of aurors they wouldn't' arrest him, just that the criminal couldn't fight back and would either have to flee or go peacefully. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Harry quirked his eyebrow to the leader of the pack.

"What could a mere mortal like you do to us." He laughed.

"Sorry Tom. I'll pay for what I break." The bartender nodded nervously and stepped back.

Quicker that any of the vampires could move Harry was off the stool, duster swung aside and his sword drawn in his left hand. At the same time his wand materialized in his right. The leader only had time to lung a foot before the shiny steel blade cut cleanly through his neck. Another fell as an invisible blade cut from below his right arm to above his left shoulder. The two still alive reacted with all their speed and strength. The first to him swung a fist only to have it connect with a shimmering gold shield. The cracks and breaking bones reverberated off the walls. The next second he didn't even have an arm as the sword passed millimeters from the thing's face.

Ducking into a roll Harry avoided the second and concentrated on killing the one he had already injured. A deft flick of his wand and a flaming whip encircled the vampire's throat. Another jerk and the head came clean off and the flaming whip disappeared.

The last vampire stood shocked. In less than thirty seconds this mortal had killed three of his clan in close combat. He had never seen anyone beside the Dark Lord as strong or as quick as the man in front of him and that was before he had tried to curse Potter into another dimension. Since then he had been rather weak. Still he had been gaining his strength back and was now almost ready to start his rein of terror again.

Harry smirked but the only thing the vampire saw were his lips and his dimly glowing killing curse green eyes under the hood of his muggle style hat. "Who are you?" The vampire asked as he backed his way into the bar.

"You can call me Judge and you have been found lacking." The vampire was only able to raise his hand to block the blow as the shining metal of the sword descended on him, cutting his head clean off.

On the floor were the charred remains of the four idiots that had attacked him. Shaking his head at the stupidity of certain species he sheathed his sword and wand. Rummaging though the vampire's clothing he found a bag of gold in each of their pockets and tossed them to Tom. "Here you are Tom. What ever we broke I hope that covers it."

The bartender was staring in awe at what Harry just did and didn't even bother to acknowledge that the four bags would have enough gold in them to totally renovate the entire inside of the pub if he wanted to.

"Hey Tom?" Harry waved his hand in front of the old man's face. After he came out of his daze Harry asked, "Do you know of any way I can contact my friends or where they might be?"

"Oh yea, they gave me this." Tom pulled out a mirror from underneath the bar. "They said you would know what it meant."

Harry nodded and took the mirror. "Thanks for the drinks Tom. Feel free to let people know I'm still hanging around after I leave."

The bartender nodded as the young man left out into muggle London and for the first time in a year he felt hope in his heart that someone would be able to end the Dark Lord.

Harry only walked to a little allay before he apparated to the safest place he could think of. As he arrived he scowled. It was exactly as he remembered it. Perfect little houses all perfectly alike. It made him disgusted just looking at them. Moving to sit by a tree across from his childhood home Harry looked into the mirror.

"Ron, Hermione, Ginny, is anyone there?" He whispered into the device. After a few minutes he received no answer. "Ron, Ginny, Hermione, are you there? This is Harry. I'm trying to find you." Still no answer.

'Okay Potter, use that brain of yours. It must be password protected or something.' He smiled.

"I solomely swear that I am up to no good." He intoned. The mirror rippled as the magic activated it. "Ron, Hermione, Ginny, are you there? It's Harry." This time it only took a moment before the face of his best friend answered his call. Ron stared wide eyed into the face of his long lost best friend for a moment before starting to scream for Ginny and Hermione to wake up. It didn't take long before all three were trying to squeeze themselves into the mirror's view.

"Harry! Ginny squealed as she saw his face. "Where are you? We'll be right there."

"At my relative's house in Little Whinging. I thought it would be the last place attacked or where I would be found. Do you know where it is?"

"Yea we know mate." Ron was grinning ear to ear. "We paid them a little visit after you disappeared."

"We have to be careful though Harry. Scrimgeour was killed after you left and the bloody idiots placed Fudge back as the Minister." Hermione pushed her way into view. "He and Umbridge almost immediately put out a warrant for our arrest because Voldemort supposedly negotiated with him that he would cease his campaign if all four of us were given to him."

Flames danced in Harry's eyes as anger coursed though him. He took a breath and managed to use some of his occlumency skills to move the emotion away from the time being. "Alright, we'll play it safe for now. Do you still want to come here or do you want to meet me somewhere?"

"Stay there. Fudge never knew where you were staying over the summer. It seems as though Dumbledore's wards obliviated the wizards of the location after they corrected any accidental magic your third year."

"Well that certainly came in handy." Harry thought a bit. "Alright, how soon can you get here?"

"We'll be there in five minutes." Ginny yelled as the screen went blank.

Three soft pops notified Harry that someone had arrived. Peaking out from behind the tree he noticed the distinct Weasley red hair on two and the other a bushy brown that just reeked Hermione. Still he didn't let his excitement get the better of him. If the Ministry was after them then they would also be after him as soon as he was found to be alive. Sliding his knife from his boot and his sword from its sheath he quietly sneaked behind the three.

The two red heads on the outside of the group suddenly felt the cold metal that could only be from a blade pressed against their necks. "Don't move if you value your two friend's lives." Spoke a menacing voice behind them. "Now tell me who you used to enhance your power."

"Malfoy." The tall redhead answered.

"Rookwood and Dean." Ginny supplied.

"That powerful woman. I never got her name." Hermione answered as she slowly turned around.

The cold steel vanished as fast as it had arrived and the three barely turned around before they were gathered in a rib breaking hug.

"I can't believe it. I was beginning to think I would never see you guys again." Harry said around the wide smile and tears leaking from his eyes.

The others returned the hug passionately but Harry shushed them before they could talk. Pointing toward number four they all nodded and quietly moved to the front door. A quick spell later and the door glided open soundlessly. It might have been the only time Harry would ever be thankful about the meticulousness of the Dursleys.

After securing the door and placing silencing and security wards of all types around the room and house Harry rushed the other three and wrapped them an a giant hug once more.

After the hugs all around and the kisses shared between the girls they sat down to talk.

"What happened, Harry?"

So Harry told them everything he could think of and all of his theories and conclusions up to that point.

"Really I don't know how long I can stay here. I'm pretty sure it's Riddle's magic that is keeping me here as it is. I can still feel the part of me that is back in Middle Earth. Hopefully I can drain the bastard for another year."

"You've been gone from us for twenty years? I'm so sorry Harry." Ginny cried on him. "I couldn't imagine being away from all of you that long. It must have been so hard."

"At first I was just trying to fight the effects of the exhaustion. Don't ever do that by the way. It sucks. So tell me what's been going on with you all. I want to hear everything."

"Well," Hermione began. "After you disappeared the dragon dung really hit the fan. With the goblins helping to try and kill us. Oh that's one of the charges against us. Destroying and killing countless goblins and Gringotts. The Ministry however has still not let the goblins back into the bank and has warded the entire nation to keep them from the fight. It seems we did destroy the only entrance and exit for them. Negotiations are ongoing even now to let them back. Scrimgeour did a good job after that. He ditched Fudge and Umbridge and tossed a whole bunch of Voldemort supporters into Azkaban along with Umbridge. There were very few attacks for the first six months. Things started picking up after that. Small attacks at first and only on muggles. Then almost two months ago, Scrimgeour was assassinated. The others panicked at how easy it was to off the Minister, buckled under pressure from the few pro-dark supporters left, and voted Fudge in. It only took a day for him to reverse all the progress that had been made and then another month before him and that hag passed the law to arrest us and to alienate nearly all the magical creatures. He even passed a law forbidding the ownership of a phoenix, can you believe that? After that we left and been living in the Chamber since. We've cleared out the tunnel behind where Salazar's statue and found that it empties in the middle of the Forbidden Forest well past the anti-apparation wards so we can still come and go as we please. The only problem is if Voldemort himself attacks the school and in his weakened state he dare not leave his stronghold."

"What a bunch of bloody idiots." Harry murmured. He sat and thought in silence for a good thirty minutes and could only think of one thing to do. If Voldemort was going to assassinate all the pro-light wizards in the Ministry then Harry would have to do the same for all the pro-dark. It probably wouldn't be that hard to do either. After all, who would think that the "Light" would ever kill? 'Stupid wizards.' Harry thought to himself. The only problem with this was the fact that Harry still had his reservation about killing. True he had killed probably hundreds of Middle-Earth goblins, orcs and wargs. Not to mention torturing a Balrog and desecrating the resting place of an evil dragon. Still he had never intentionally killed a human outside of a duel. He knew he would have to do it at one point in his life. Hell, he would probably end up killing quite a few. After all the Death Eaters wouldn't just lay down their wands for him. Then there was the fact that Middle-Earth was about to go to war and no telling what other places he might get shipped to before all this was over. Harry sighed as he knew what he had to do but hated doing it. Lowering his head he addressed his friends once again. "I'll have to take care of them then." He said in a resigned voice. "We have things that need to get done and we can't be watching our back every step of the way more than we are now. We already have one side against us, we damn sure don't need another."

"Not you, WE!" Demanded Ginny. "We were thinking along the same lines but not sure if we should follow though with it. It seems like cold blooded murder." She grimaced.

"I know, but if Fudge is dealing with Death Eaters or even Riddle himself then chances are he is one too. I'm pretty sure Umbridge flocked to his banner after the Centaurs nearly killed her. Do you have a list of who else needs to go?"

"Yea we do. I just hate having to do this."

"Me too Ron, Me too. I think it is something we need to do while I'm here though."

"So what have you accomplished with the horcruxes and training?" Harry moved to a different line of conversation.

"No luck so far. We haven't had time to really search with all the magical world looking for us. We did go to the orphanage. It was just a trap. We had to get past a bloody big hydra to get out. Riddle had made a huge chamber in the bottom of the basement. We had to smear blood on the secret door to get in then we were trapped as that thing attacked us. It only had one head thankfully and Hermione here made sure we didn't cut it off. As it was we had the advantage with three to one we didn't need to even the odds. Any way we knew you would want it so we managed to trap it then bind it in chains before forcing it to drink a cauldron full of dreamless sleep we had been brewing. After that we put it in a stasis egg like yours. You can have it once we get back to the Chamber." Ron noted to Harry then continued. "After that we had to get past a few more curses but with the three of us we were able to get by without injury. Ginny finally found out what the curse was keeping us from getting out. He had somehow mixed a rapid skin rotting curse with a insanity curse. After a bit we managed to break it but the magical disruption started causing the building above us to collapse. We apparated out as soon as we had the chance just as the entire place sunk into the ground. We managed to do it with only a few cuts and bruises to show for it." Harry nodded.

"I've been studying a bit on necromancy with Gin. We hope to be able to destroy any we come across quickly." Hermione stated. "We've almost got the locket. We found Dung and Ron cursed him until he told us who he sold it to. We've had a hard time trying to track the person down as they fled the UK already but we have them narrowed down to a little town just outside Paris. We should have it in a week."

"Good, any luck finding the fifth horcrux?"

"No, really we haven't even tried to find it yet."

"Take your time. If my guess is right it will be a while before I'm back here for good." Harry glanced up the stairs as he heard the sound of someone waking up. "Let's get out of here. It's better if no one knows we are here."

The rest nodded and quietly followed Harry out the back door. With a quick flick of his wand and a password the wards he had placed fell and as Ginny grabbed hold of Harry's arm there were three muffled pops and they were gone.

They spent until noon in the Chamber which mostly consisted of Ginny and Hermione welcoming back Harry privately. Ron didn't seem to mind and even said that he had them both the rest of the year, Harry could have this one day. It seemed that the whole getting cursed into another world and being alone for twenty years caused most of the youngest male Weasley's jealousy to evaporate rather swiftly.

The rest of the time they chatted and talked about how they had progressed. The three had started learning occlumency when Harry started and had much better results. They already had moderately strong shields and had spent a lot of time sorting memories. Harry tested them and in turn got feedback on how well he did. He was able to get past the shields but not without them noticing. They had been amazed at his story of the demon and meeting his mother but decided to just continue on as they were. The descriptions Harry gave of the demons claws sinking into his head and forcing the process didn't sound too appealing when they already had the basics down and were steadily getting better on their own.

Soon though it was time to do what needed to be done. Ginny had spent some time creating backpack with a dimensional pocket inside since he hadn't been able to bring his trunk. After a visit to the elves where they again loaded his bag with food, the group set out to Diagon Alley.

They used some of Harry's money to purchase the entire stock of the apothecary, filling the backpack to it's limit. This time Harry kept it all since the other three could sneak into the alley themselves when they needed to. He bought rolls of parchment and dozens of quills along with bottles of ink to replace what he had used already. He purchased new cauldrons to replace the ones he had either melted or blown up when he first started learning potions over again. Those he had to shrink and place in his duster's pockets.

While they were shopping they searched for known Death Eaters to travel by before seemingly accidentally bumping into them. Each coming away with a hair from the person's head. It was such a simple plan.

That night visited Remus and Tonks. They spent what time they could together. It had been a rather good year for the two until Fudge resumed power over the wizarding world. Hearing the many new laws that went so far as to ban a marriage between the were-wolf and metamorph rekindled the fire for a restructuring of wizarding government. They met with many others that they had known since Remus and Tonks apparated all over Britain bring the good news of Harry's appearance. Mrs Weasley was nearly impossible to deal with. Eventually Ron had to stun his own mother to stop the worrying woman. It was impressive how she could go from smothering to enraged in a moment.

Unfortunately the gathering had to end. Most of the key Order members or good friends knew that Harry wouldn't be seen for another year. And in all likelihood that was the way it would be for the better part of a decade. As the guests left only the core members of Harry's friends stayed behind. It was time to plan the premeditated assassination of many of the world's top magical officials.

The Ministry of magic was nearly as easy to break into as it was in years prior. A ward had been erected just past the check in desk which was manned by a sleeping guard and an auror who was too busy reading his book to notice the four intruders under invisibility cloaks. He never saw the stunner hit him in the back and the guard never woke. After a few quick spells from Harry the ward had a large breach in it but did not come down. Four individuals stepped from beneath the invisibility cloaks each looking nothing like they actually did. Over the course of two hours, just before the clock struck eleven, the same four people were seen by over three dozen witnesses to break into a secret meeting and kill fifteen government employees. Everyone that was killed was suspected of having dark ties. Later the next day aurors found Cornelius Fudge dead at his desk from poison in his tea. Moments later Special Assistant to the Minister Dolores Umbridge was found in a similarly dead state only she died of blood loss. Across her body the words 'I must not tell lies' was carved and burned into her flesh. The Daily Prophet was filled with private memos from the two top government officials describing back room dealings the ex-minister had. So much so only a few small articles were written describing the deaths of so many government officials.

At exactly midnight Harry was again whisked away back to Middle Earth to deal with what ever it was that needed to be done. Hermione had tried to read the series but it was no use. Harry explained to her that his presence had already caused the chain of events to become altered. Plus he just wanted to spend some time with his best friends before he would again be separated for another twenty years. As the clock struck twelve tears rolled off his cheeks as the all too familiar tugging started once again. With a last 'Love you' Harry vanished. Leaving behind three distraught friends wondering why life had to be so hard to the one man who was more than any mere brother could be.

As Hermione read the next morning's edition of the Prophet the four people they were impersonating the night before had already been apprehended and sent through the death veil for their crimes against the wizarding world without the benefit of a trial. 'The wizarding world was run by a bunch of idiots.' She thought as she read on. She had been shocked to read about what Harry had done to Umbridge. He had asked to have her to himself. The poison Fudge drank was from the basilisk Harry had killed. Now that they had most of the darker elements removed from the government she could only hope things would get better. She worried about her best friend and lover. She spent the entire night reading the trilogy and found that Harry was going to have a hard time.

Over the next few months the wizarding world breathed a sigh of relief as the progressively frequent attacks stopped suddenly Halloween night and Tom the barkeep spread word to anyone who would listen that Harry Potter was not dead but had come back to save them all.

A/N: Another chapter over and done with. Things should start moving right along here soon. I've planned up to the point where Frodo and Sam take the stone steps on the way to Mordor but I am trying to find something exciting for Harry to get into.

Some reviewers have said that Harry has had it too easy in Middle Earth. I agree to an extent but we have to look at the powers and abilities that Harry has at his disposal compared to anyone else in the realm. Even Gandalf would be hard pressed to reproduce Harry's feats regarding magic. That and Harry has only really been working on making himself stronger and battle magic for over twenty years now. With that much time focusing on a single subject he is bound to get pretty good at it with the resorces he has available to him.

Fear not however. There are things in Middle Earth that still go bump in the night. Though most of them weren't mentioned in LotR or The Hobbit, there are some very dark creatures still lurking under Saurman's control.

Again I want to thanks vampgoddesss. Without her beta-ing (is that even a word) skills this would not have been nearly as easy or fun to read.

Authors pick of the week would be Bungle in the Jungle: A Harry Potter Adventure by jbern. Great first person story that shows Harry working to get stronger and learning to play a new wizarding sport.


	5. Chapter 5

_Previously on Buying Time:_

Over the next few months the wizarding world breathed a sigh of relief as the progressively frequent attacks stopped suddenly Halloween night and Tom the barkeep spread word to anyone who would listen that Harry Potter was not dead but had come back to save them all.

Chapter 5

Harry reappeared inside his little house after his journey was over. The grounds were covered in snow and a layer of dust covered the tops of anything it could attach itself to. He figured that he was gone for a few months Middle Earth time due to the drastic weather difference. Looking out the window he noticed that the cabbage and few other vegetables he had not yet harvested when he left were now ruined. He quickly conjured a load of wood and started a fire. The warm light filled the room and Harry quickly got to work cleaning the dust off everything in the room. Thanks to magic it didn't take that long but it put a noticeable strain on his reserves. It seemed that though the trip didn't totally drain him like it had before it still took quite a bit of his power. That either meant that it wasn't that difficult to travel an established route to another world or Voldemort had gotten significantly more powerful in his year of convalescence. He prayed it was the former.

He quickly shook his head. It wouldn't do to get worked up over it. He couldn't change anything now. He only hoped that his friends continued to train and get better. Maybe they might find the horcruxes before he even made it back. That would make his job so much easier. But when had anything in his life ever been easy.

Exhausted from the cross dimensional trip and feeling like most of his magic had been drained by Riddle's miscast spell, Harry moved over to his comfortable bed and fell asleep. He didn't wake up for nearly a week.

After getting his magic and energy back up Harry set about to clean the rest of the house he had commandeered. He knew it would be a mess. In his haste to get as many things as possible incase the trip had been his final one he just summoned everything with no thought to what it destroyed in the process of getting to him. Because of that it took a while to get everything cleaned up. The potions room was a wreck. The summoning charm had obviously only partially succeeded since the magic shields had been in place around the brewing potions. Almost everything was spread out over the floor, including the half made potions he was making prior to his journey. Because of that, getting the potions room cleaned up was much more difficult that the mere dust that covered the rest of the house. The pain potion and skele-grow potion he was making were ruined and still behind the protective shield, which had kept them from being summoned. The rest of the room was a wreck where cauldrons and ingredients forced their way out of the room when he left. A few hours and clean, orderly, and newly restocked shelves later, the lab was complete once again. The food and potions ingredients, really anything that was in the dimensional pocket backpack, traveled with him but the cauldrons and other things that were in his pockets hadn't made the journey with him. It was puzzling. The explanation was that only the things in the dimensional pockets could travel with him. Maybe because they really hadn't. They stayed in one place only the apparatus allowing access to that pocked went with him. But why did the backpack stay with him while the other things didn't?

As his head started hurting from the convoluted theories running through it, he gave up and moved on to his next task, cleaning the ritual chamber. Tired from his long day Harry moved to his comfortable bed and decided to start again the next morning.

The winter kept Harry indoors for the most part. He had practiced what magic he could and studied rituals. His magic was returning much quicker than his original travel since it had a base from which to draw from. He was loathed to do power enhancing rituals when he didn't know when he would be facing his next foe. They were notorious for leaving the user out of commission for a few days then it took months to get use to the new power level. Still with nothing else to do he decided that he would complete the one power ritual he had been studying for the next week. He had to wait to do it until his occlumency shields were strong enough to allow him to push his pain away and continue on with the task. And now since they were he decided to do it.

The night of the chosen date Harry was preparing the chamber like normal. He had practiced all week drawing the correct rune on himself. It was probably the most complex rune set he had worked with to date and it made it all the more difficult that he had to write in on himself, with his wand no less. It had taken a while but he felt he had it perfect now and had done it more than a hundred times just as perfect as the book showed. The potion needed was fairly easy to make after the mind art potion but still took time and concentration.

The day before he had come and carved a rune on a replaceable stone on the floor in the dead center of the room and now he poured some of the potion into the rune until the liquid was level with the rest of the floor. The dark liquid glittered and danced in the light of the torches. He then moved over to the first torch and put it out. Once it was banked he poured some of the potion on the brazier. He then moved to the next and the next and the next. Soon the room was pitch black, still Harry could see with his enhanced vision. The gray of the stone showed clearly against the black of the fluid filled rune.

Harry knelt carefully over the rune on the floor making sure he was on his toes and knees to keep from touching and disturbing it. He dipped his wand into the cauldron and then proceeded to trace a rune over his heart. Wiping his wand off on a rag and tossing it in a corner Harry started chanting a language he had to practice weeks to say correctly. As he finished the first verse he flicked his wand and the first torch he banked sprang to life, the fire raging and spreading across the roof of the chamber. After the second verse he did the same to the second torch. The fire again leapt into the air and now covered half the ceiling above him. The third verse complete and again the torch blazed to life with a flick of his wand. The fourth and the same thing. The room was boiling hot now and fire covered the entire ceiling. He chanted the fifth and final verse and the fire swirled and weaved into a pillar of flame descending upon Harry. Looking up into the raging inferno he spoke the last word and lit the rune under him. Fire sprang to life engulfing him in the searing heat. The two pillars connected and each fought for superiority before the rune on Harry's chest burst into flames. The fire licking over his body drew into one massive pillar and shot into his chest and was absorbed into his body.

The torches burned down to their normal sizes. The rune on the floor no longer had any liquid in it. Harry sat still in the middle of the room, skin red and inflamed and face screwed up in pain. Inside him the energy of the ritual forced itself into Harry's magic, feeding it and lending to it, making it stronger, more potent. Its work done, the energy absorbed cleanly into the new body and its owner relaxed as he fell to the floor.

Harry spent the next week recuperating from the last ritual. He could feel the additional power in him now and other things were starting to happen. As he physically healed, his magic was augmenting itself to adjust to his body. The mind of magic knew that the body wouldn't need all of it and looked for other ways to assist its host. As the week wore on, Harry thought he could catch glimpses of what he could only describe as beautiful light flowing around the house and out the window.

As soon as he was able to concentrate, he remembered reading about this while he was studying for his staff. Once Magic had deemed someone worthy enough and understood enough about it, it would allow one to see magic itself if they had enough power to do so. It was ability that he could use much like his heat sensing and turn on and off if he practiced with it. The rest of the winter Harry spent looking for anything he could find on seeing and sensing magic as well as practicing all he could with his new ability.

The best thing about his new ability was that every mage that had it was able to wield a staff with great efficiency. The Mage Sight was not a requirement to staff usage; instead it was just a way to use it better. Knowing he now had the ability, Harry concentrated almost all his efforts on making his staff. He no longer used incantation or wand movements to direct a spell; instead he directed the magic to do his bidding. He was learned enough in magic to be able to wield it properly and now he could see magic and watch how the magic responded to his calling. He could have made his staff earlier but now it would definitely respond and work for him. He only hoped that he had what he needed for the staffs so the staff would suit him.

After the winter snows came the spring rains. Harry again planted his garden and set to watching it grow. He kept practicing with his magic. Constantly trying to improve his handling and control over it. He traveled around and put to practice his legilimency skills.

On one of his trips he went to Gondor to meet his friends, Boromir and Faramir again. As he left he deftly cut a long straght branch from the living White Tree of Gondor and stashed it away in his coat.

As he was returning home he noticed that something was being done around Orthanc and changed his course to see what it was. He blanched as he saw the once beautiful green lawn that surrounded it now being pitted and pocked with crevasses and fissures in the earth. The ground was scorched and every nearly all the ageless Oaks had been torn down. Thoughts of his staff at the front of his head Harry quickly cut off a few large branches from different trees. It saddened and angered him that Saruman would do such a thing to the central pillar of magical unity in Middle Earth. Even though he was not a wizard of the Valar he was still a wizard and this had the makings of darkness.

Not wanting to be seen Harry flew to the edge of the forest and spied on the White Wizard. He could see nothing other than the devastated landscape and after hours of watching he quietly flew low over the forest to keep from being seen.

As he was flying he thought he saw movement in the darkness below him. Curious he dipped his broom below the canopy hoping to see Aragorn or Gandalf. Maybe even Saruman so he could explain what the hell he was doing. As he landed though he looked up the path to see a tree. A _walking_ tree.

"What the fuck?" Harry breathed out as he watched the most unbelievable thing he had ever seen pass before him.

"Huuummmmm, whhaaaat do we have heeerrrreeeee." Rumbled a deep and slow voice from what would be called the mouth of the tree if there could be one.

Harry didn't seem surprised as the tree bent down to eye him. "You can talk?" He did ask incredulously.

"Ho hum, but yes I can little manling. I see you can as well." Said the tree.

"Oh this has got to be the weirdest thing I have ever encountered." Harry said to himself but the tree heard. "What are you exactly. Are you really a tree?"

"Oh yes, yes we are. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaages agoooooo we were ttttttaught by the elves to talk. They fffffffffilled our forest and gave us maaaaagiccccc to live and movvvvvvvvve when we needed to. Since thennnnnnnnn the trees have tuuuuuuuuuurned dark. Men cut our branches; cut up our young. Angry the trees are and iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit is old Treeeeeeeeebard's duty to calm them."

'So that's why the forest seems so menacing.' Harry thought. "Is it all of Fangorn Forest that is sentient or just portions?"

"Long ago…"

"Yea yea I know. What about my question though."

"You humans. You take no time to do anything. Just ruuuuuuush and rushhhhhhhhh. We Ents don't do annnnyyyything unless it's worth doing a looooong time."

"Hmmm, yea. How old are you anyway?"

"I was one of the first tuuuuuurrrrrrned by the elves. Most of us sleep now as the ages passssssss us by. But the forest shakes branch and bough in anger waking most of us from our sluuuuummmmmmber. War the wind whissssppppers."

"Is that what Saruman is doing? I noticed he destroyed nearly everything in Orthanc's borders. My guess is that he will start with the trees of Fangorn next."

"WHHHAAAAAATTTTTT! The wizard destroying and killing the forest he spent so long in himself. We use to all speak to the White Wizard when he walked among us and treated him as our friend. Now he kills the trees." The ent's voice boomed in the forest and the trees shook with anger as they seemed to move in toward Harry.

"Come little manling. I think it tiiiiiiimmmme to call a gathering. It will be the fiiiirrrrssst done in an aaagggge." With that Treebeard picked Harry up and placed him in his branches.

After hours of walking the living tree entered what looked like a hall of thickly planted trees. A small stream flowed through it and water dripped from the branches around the area.

"This is my home. I do not usually stay here but I don't think you impatient humans would like to sit through a gathering. Whenever you are hungry just drink the water and you should be refreshed. I will be back when it is over."

"Wait! Treebeard, hold on. I'm not like other wizards. I can fly out of the forest whenever I need to. I would like to start heading home if it is possible."

"Fly you say? Like a bird? Yes wizards always had mysterious ways here one minute gone the next. Very good, as soon as you are rested feel free to head back to your home. Goodbye good wizard."

"Treebeard, I need to ask you something else. I'm putting together my staff and am searching out the most powerful pieces. Would it be possible for you to give me one of your long strait branches to use?"

"You ask much young wizard. But yes, I see you as one for the side of good and right. If my branch can help save my friends and my forest then please have it and use it well." The large living tree shook its branches and after a groan of pain a long eight foot strait branch fell to the ground.

"Thank you. I promise I will do anything I can for the forest and to keep it safe."

"Huummmmm, yes you will, yes you will. Goodbye young manling wizard. May your roots stay grounded." And he left.

Harry shrunk the branch quickly as it still seemed to be alive. Small branches grew out of the branch even though it was off Treebeard. He quickly placed it in his trunk happy that the ancient tree had agreed. While he had the trunk open he removed one of the dinners the house elves made him and a decanter of pumpkin juice. A flick of his wand and four of the leaves turned into a silver goblet and a knife, spoon and fork. The transfiguration of silver had just recently become easy to him to accomplish as it took so much power to do it. Conjuring something silver was still a little difficult. Gold however was still nearly impossible for him to work with. He would need a lot more time and power to accomplish it. Leaning against a fallen log he cherished the cool evening air. He had been on the move for a while now and was ready to get home.

Still with the news of the war brewing he wanted to check on his dwarf friends in Lonely Mountain. It wouldn't hurt to seek aid from Lake Town and see if they could spread word to the surrounding villages to send any willing warrior toward Gondor to give them aid. Harry knew that fool Denethor would refuse any on his own. He was too arrogant though his soldiers were the best in Middle Earth. They were exceptional but even they couldn't go up against ten to one odds and survive. Just the amount of orcs he had seen when he left recently would overrun the White City even if it took months of a siege. And there were still the nine wraiths he had heard speak of from elves, Aragorn, Gandalf and even from Hermione before he left from what she remembered of the story. The descriptions of them chilled his blood and reminded him of the dementors back home. He needed some sleep before he started moving again though.

The next morning Harry pulled out a plate with loads of bangers, eggs, fried tomatoes, hashers and toast on it. A quick warming charm later and it was steaming. Hungry and tired still Harry ate the food. He really didn't feel like any pumpkin juice so he took the silver goblet he made the night before to the small stream running through the hall. The water looked cold and refreshing. As he brought the now full cup to his lips he was surprised when it tasted of sweet honey even more so than the little creek he had stayed by all those years ago on the edge of Fangorn. His wariness was whisked away and he could feel his magic humming. Amazed Harry glanced at the water in the goblet then at the stream. He remembered how that big stream where he lived always made him feel better when he swam in it or drank from it.

'This must be the source of what ever made the water so inviting.' He looked around and found the gold and silver dew drops from the trees gathering in the stream and then fading in with all the other water. Taking another drink of the cool water and he felt even better. Ten goblets of water later and Harry felt better that he ever felt in his life. He could feel everything in his body growing from his magic to his hair. Even himself just slightly. Hurrying back to his trunk he took out the bottomless jug of water and started pouring it out in the stream, letting the clear liquid mix with the living water and wash away. After a hour of constant pouring the liquid in the jug finally ran out and Harry placed it in the stream allowing it to fill to capacity two hours later before he resealed the lid. Getting one last cup full before he left, Harry packed up and headed to Lonely Mountain.

Everything seemed brighter and more colorful as he traveled from Fangorn. The magic was clearer and wind fresher. He marveled at the magic that was in Treebeard's stream and wondered if the other Ents each had a stream of their own to drink from. It didn't really matter as Harry could always apparate back if he needed to fill the jug again.

It didn't take long to get to Lake Town and he made quick work talking to the town elders and seeking aid for Gondor. They agreed they would spend any volunteers and would spread the word. They would gather troops and wait for the time they were call upon. Hopefully war wasn't coming too soon. He didn't think Saruman was ready to make his move yet but even more worrying was Sauron and his massive armies. Moving quickly he only spent an evening in Lake Town before he headed to Lonely Mountain.

When he arrived it was at the end of a vicious battle. Dwarf and orc bodies littered the halls as Harry flew to where he could still hear the fighting. As he passed pillars he could see huge gashes that could only have been the work of Trolls.

He landed behind the rear of the attackers and quickly unsheathed his weapons. Sword in one hand and wand in the other Harry set to work. He realized he really hated fighting underground. It took away some of his most powerful attacks. Still between his quicksilver whip and his sword he was making quick work of the unskilled, but overwhelming number of, orcs. He finally worked his way to the front where he could see three huge cave trolls decimating the dwarfs.

He first transfigured a broken pillar into a spear of solid stone then with all his might he banished it into the back of the Trolls neck. The beast lunged forward as the magically hardened stone sliced through its tough hide, though it's spine, then back out of the neck. The fighting stopped for a moment as the beast tottered then fell back with a crunch as it landed on some of the orcs. Harry wasted no time flicking his wand at the next troll. The air blade cut into the hide but only black blood fell to the ground and bubbled as it ate through the rock. Raising an eyebrow he quickly banished a boulder into the side of its head causing it to fall to the ground unconscious. The third troll bellowed in rage seeing its two fellows brought down. It charged with a large black blade as Harry whipped his wand around. A flaming whip cracked on the Troll's shoulder causing it to howl in pain as he brought his black sword towards its next victim. Bringing his sword to bare, Harry parried the blow with his super human strength. A jarring clang of metal on metal filled the air as both blades were knocked aside. Harry's entire arm stung at the blow but he was able to fend it off and it looked like the troll's arm wasn't much better. It looked at Harry in confusion as if trying to figure out why he was still alive. The next second a yellow disk of magic flew into its mouth and back out the back of its head. The troll fell dead.

Heartened, the dwarf warriors attacked the orc army with fierce determination. After another hour of battle, the last of the orcs were being hunted throughout the forests that surrounded the base of the mountain.

A pitiful few dwarves survived the battle. As Harry searched out the King he was approached by one of the guards that never left the King's side.

"Follow me friend. The King wishes to speak with you and we have little time." The warrior had sad down cast eyes and a long face. Harry could guess that the King had been injured badly in the battle.

Harry hurried after the soldier and they soon arrived in a grand room filled with works of silver, gold and mithril. The king was lying on his bed surrounded by other dwarfs that seemed to be trying to stop the blood loss.

"Move now!" Harry commanded as he moved between two of the nurses. They moved wondering what the young man would do.

Harry first took out his trunk and resized it. As he was he quickly cast a diagnostic charm to find out what the problems were. As the different areas lit up he dove into his potions supply pulling out vial after vial.

"Listen," Harry said slapping the face of the King to get him to concentrate on him. "These will taste god awful but they will heal you. Trust me that I wouldn't do anything to harm you. Do you understand?"

The King nodded weakly and tried to talk.

"Don't talk. Save your energy." Harry waved his wand over the deep gashes that covered the King's chest and the muscle and skin mended itself back together. Sweat beaded on his brow as he concentrated with all his might on the healing spells. Power flowed from him into his wand healing the huge cuts quickly. When he finished he quickly poured a red potion into his mouth. The dwarf's gage reflex kicked in at the vile taste.

"Help me hold him down. This is a blood replenishing potion that will keep him from bleeding to death."

The same dwarf who came to find him as well as another held the King down forcibly and made him drink the potion. Harry brought another and another of the red potion to the dwarf King's mouth. Each one would add a liter of blood and it seemed the King had lost most of his. After six Harry stopped and the King looked noticeably better as the color returned to his skin. The other dwarfs sighed and smiled noticing the change.

"Don't get to comfortable just yet." Harry said as he brought a sickly yellow potion to the King's lips. Again he had to be force to drink it.

"That one will kill all infection." The next was a green one. "This will get rid of any internal bleeding and repair any damaged organs." The healers nodded seemingly entranced at the magic the boy they though was just that, a boy, wielded.

The final potion was clear. "This is skele-grow. It will knit the bones that were broken and cut back together. It hurts horribly and tastes worse than anything you can imagine but it works. I've had to use it before so I know it is safe."

Harry quickly turned to what seemed like the head healer. "His left arm is broken in three places. The bone in his right thigh is shattered and left bone fragments all though out his upper leg and the right part of his hip was messed up pretty bad. His ribs have also been cut nearly in two from one of the blows."

All those who heard paled at the normally life threatening injuries. Normally the best thing that could happen in this situation was for the individual to come out a cripple. Harry, though, thought back to the time Lockhart had removed all the bones from his arm. It had only taken the bone. If he could do the same for the King then he would be able to take the Skele-grow and be alright in a few days.

"Alright," Harry again took command of the healing as he turned to the other medics and told them his plan. "I want to remove all the damaged bones. I can vanish them while they are still in the King's body. Then I have a potion that will grow them all back. It will be extremely painful; both parts. But it will allow the King to heal fully."

"Do it." Whispered the King who was still in a godly amount of pain from the broken bones. "I refuse to live as a cripple."

The other dwarfs nodded knowing that others would try to overthrow the King if they thought they could spot a weakness.

Harry nodded as well knowing he now had permission to continue. "First we need to give him the potion. That way we won't have to struggle with him after the bones are removed and chance causing even more damage."

This time it took four dwarfs to hold down the King as he spasmed and tried to spit out the concoction. Once he finally swallowed, Harry quickly cast a body bind and support spells to take the place of the soon to be missing skeleton. He didn't know the spell Lockhart used and was pretty sure it was something that couldn't be reproduced by anyone who wasn't an idiot. Harry did however know a curse that removed the bone. It was exceptionally painful though. Still with no other recourse…

Even though the king of the dwarf nation couldn't talk, all knew of the pain the spell must have caused as massive amounts of pain filled the King's eyes. They never even had the chance to calm as the potion took effect and started growing the bones back.

Casting another series of diagnostic spells Harry was relieved to see that he had indeed removed all the bone shards that had littered the Kings body along with the main bones. Already the signs of re-grown bones showed on his scans.

"That is all I can do. Keep him in bed for a time. A day at least. He has a massive amount of bones to re-grow and might need to take the potion again." Harry said as he placed another large vial of Skele-grow and another few blood replenishers on the bed side table. "Give these to the King in twelve hours." He said to the head medic before he swished his wand and removed the body bind he had placed on the King to keep him from moving during the medical procedure. He was greeted by a soft groan from the King as the medicinal potions coursed though his body.

Finally Harry pulled out a bright blue vial from his trunk. "This is a dreamless sleep potion. It will put the King in an enchanted sleep. This should be enough to keep him asleep for twelve hours while the other potions do their work. That is all I can do." He handed the potion to one of the nurses and she placed it on the table by the bed.

Harry back away from the bed as the King quickly drifted off after the Dreamless Sleep had been forcefully shoved down his throat by the medics still stationed around the bed. He found a comfortable chair near by and flopped into it, exhausted. Not so much physically as mentally. He never really knew how much concentration it took to cast medical spells. One wrong move and instead of healing an injury you could make it ten times worse. It was a lot of responsibility.

The following day found Harry back in the King's chambers. The potions had already run their course and the King was already on his second round. As he entered he notices a visibly relieved medical staff and even the warriors had visible relief and happiness showing on their face at the improving health of their king.

Noticing Harry at his side the King grimaced in pain as the new batch of skele-grow started working. "By the Valor that is some disgusting concoctions you have there my boy. Always full of surprises." He chuckled weakly but his voice was gaining strength and his complexion was getting better as time wore on. "Listen carefully Master Wizard. The foul orcs were after the Arkenstone that lay with my friend Thorin Oakenshield, my predecessor as King Under the Mountain. He was buried with the gem as it was very dear to him. We no longer have the warriors to defend the stone or the Grave of our friend and hero. We are going to have to fall back deeper under the mountain until we are strong enough to re-emerge with a fighting force. Please my friend, you have proven yourself worthy and a true friend to the race of dwarves, take the stone and put it to good use fighting those that we can not. I have sent my son, Gimli, and five others to the council of Elrond to speak of the growing darkness and I am loathed not to be able to help. Perhaps soon we will be able to re-emerge and fight by your side once again." The King lay back on the bed having used his energy speaking to Harry. The other dwarfs were shocked at the King's request but dared not speak against it. "The stone is yours now Master Harry. Take care of it and it will take care of you. It is a powerful object." He had just taken some more Dreamless Sleep and was drifting off quickly.

"If this is what you wish my friend." Harry smiled down on the now smiling dwarf. "When you wake you will be better. Stay in bed and gather your strength quickly. We will need the strength of the dwarfs before this is over. I will see you again my friend." Harry smiled down on the aged dwarf that he rapidly coming to viewed as his friend.

The dwarfs quickly shook off their shock and moved to adhere to their King's demands. The dwarf that escorted Harry earlier that day moved to his side.

"Master Wizard if you will please follow me I will take you to the resting place of our beloved Hero."

Harry followed dutifully beside the solemn dwarf trying to remember anything he could about this from his reading of the Hobbit or Hermione's quick explanation of the Fellowship. He could remember something about Thorin being stark raving mad about the gem then after being mortally wounded after the Battle of Five Armies he realized how foolish he was. He remembered him being buried with the stone as well as a sword he had found earlier in their travels. It would be a shame to allow such a powerful weapon lay buried when it could be used again.

Harry turned to the dwarf leading him through the passages. "What is your name Master Dwarf. I saw you fighting bravely in the battle defending the King?"

"Cloin Sir. But I feel as though I failed him. The dishonor of allowing him injury and then having to hide ourselves from the war coming when we should be on the lines hewing our enemy's necks. I shudder to think how our ancestors think of us."

"There is no shame in some defeats Cloin. Your enemy out numbered you more than ten to one and you were still winning until they brought in the cave trolls. Without magic they are near impossible to kill. I have read lore from Gondor how it took armies of men to fight one. Only the ancient weapons from before the fall of Sauron have the power to cut their hide. Do not be ashamed." The two walked in silence for a little while as Harry hoped the dwarf would take his word to heart. Even the most skilled warriors he knew in Middle Earth would have a hard time killing a troll.

"Can you tell me anything about the Arkenstone?" Harry asked as to change the subject.

"Not very much I'm afraid. Even to Thorin and his father not much was known about it. Legend states it was uncovered already shaped in the very heart of the mountain where the Throne room now stands. It has an inner light and power to it but we dwarfs have never understood it. It was mainly used as just an ornate jewel. I laid eyes on it once. Just after the battle where Thorin died. That was a good day and a good way to die, with the bodies of enemies strewn around us and victory in the air. I watched as we marched into battle the fierceness the King fought with and was envious."

"He was buried with his armor and his elf make sword as well." Harry pondered and didn't really think about what he was saying.

"You are very strange young Wizard. You know things that are secret and fight with a magic none have seen in this land before. I am tempted to ask question after question but I know the fickleness and tempers of most other wizards and do not wish you to cast your ire towards me."

Harry laughed lightheartedly knowing that if the dwarf had ever met Gandalf how he would come to such a theory. "Yes Gandalf is a stiff backed old man. He will sit and ask you questions for an age if he doesn't understand something but if you are to ask him, you are quite right. Still Cloin you are correct that I cannot give away much regarding the matters of my knowledge. I can tell you some of it has come from speaking to those who actually participated in the events. The fight for the mountain from Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies greatly holds my interest and I have sought out the knowledge from where ever I could. Gandalf was there as well as the Forest elves who I have visited. There are old stories written about the events still in Lake Town as well."

"Yes I could see how you come upon your knowledge now. The study of history has never been a strong point with the dwarfs. We remember the legends of our brave and the battles they fought in but we rarely record the day to day life of our kind. Ah here we are."

The dwarf led Harry into a beautifully carved room which had three small windows that would let light fall onto the standing crypt during most times of the day. The walls were carved in grand fashion telling the events and adventures of a small company of dwarfs, a hobbit and sometimes a wizard setting out to reclaim their mountain. The detail that the stone carvings showed were amazing and the wizard could only marvel at the sight.

"It is one of our greatest works and took many score of days but was a labor of love." And Harry wished he had a camera to take pictures of the magnificent room.

The two moved to the side of the crypt and the dwarf spoke to the deceased inside. He explained about the battle and Harry's help, the history of Harry helping in the past, the coming darkness and seemingly inevitable war. Then he asked permission to retrieve the Arkenstone to give to Harry as was ordered by the King.

The air thickened and the wizard tensed as he felt the magic intensify in the room. Switching his vision over to be able to see what was happening he could see the magic in the air thickening and closing in on the lid of the crypt. It condensed and started taking shape. Soon standing before Harry and Cloin was an image of an ancient dwarf that seemed to be looking the two over.

"Good Lord." Harry breathed as he focused on the figure. Cloin looked confused.

"What is it Master Wizard?"

"There is another dwarf that just appeared from the magic in the air. He's now standing in front of the crypt looking at us intently." Harry said in a whisper.

The living dwarf's eyes opened wide as he bowed so low his long nose touched the ground. "My former King Thorin it is with great honor that I stand before you." Catching on Harry too bowed slightly in respect. "I can not see you my King though the wizard Harry says he can." The ghostly figure turned his eyes toward Harry. Cloin continued and gave again a lengthy history of Harry's dealings with the dwarfs and again asked if they might retrieve the Stone. The ghostly dwarf thought for a while then slowly nodded. The lid to the tomb slid to the side giving them access to the treasure below.

With many thanks Harry bent to retrieve the stone. He saw the sword and turned to the dwarf.

"King Thorin?" Harry questioned and the ghost's eyes moved back to his. The eyes now held sadness and the wizard knew it was because he was sad to let the stone he loved so go. Harry continued thought. "King Thorin, your sword has been used in ages past to assist in victory in battle. You yourself used it to great effect before your passing. I ask that you let me take it to a great warrior who will use it again in battle as it was made for. Will you permit me to take the sword?"

The ghostly eyes looked at him accusingly and Harry could feel the unasked question. He slid his sword from its black leather sheath to show the ghost. "I Sir have my own sword already. It is my family sword and I would not wield another. Beside yours is not suited for my type of fighting. Please I know I ask much of you but we will need every weapon we can to defeat our foes in Mordor. I believe we have already lost Saruman if the word in Fangorn is true and he was a great ally and even greater foe."

The ghost seemed shocked for a moment at the news of two great foes loose on the land and nodded his head to take the sword as well. Harry untied the jeweled scabbard and pulled it away from the dead body. As he lifted it he removed the sword from the sheath. It was beautiful to behold and the ghost smiled knowingly. The sword itself felt powerful in your hands and seemed to give the wielder strength and courage. Harry closed his eyes and sighed sadly as he slid the sword back into its resting place.

"Now I wish I could use it. It is a magnificent weapon." Harry said as he looked at it. He quickly put it in his trunk along with the Arkenstone which was probably the most amazingly magical thing he had ever laid eyes on. He couldn't wait until he had the chance to study it. The two living beings again bowed in the direction of the ghost as the lid to the grave moved back to cover the dead. The ghost then bowed as well before the magic dispersed and again moved out into the world.

Harry switched his vision back to his normal enhanced sight. The amount of magic in the air all around Middle Earth made it nearly impossible use the sight all the time. "Well that was interesting."

"Yes Master Wizard. That it was. You could see our beloved hero?" Asked Cloin with longing in his eyes and voice.

"Yes I could. I have the ability to actually see magic. It was gifted to me by Magic as a reward. Could you feel the air thicken before I said anything?" The dwarf nodded as they walked. "That was the feeling of strong magic. It came together to form a ghost of Thorin."

"What a truly honoring experience." Cloin said reverently as they left the room.

"Hold on a second. I'm going to place some wards that will help keep any intruders from the tomb if that is alright with you." He received a nod. "The problem is that it won't let dwarfs in either until it is either broken through or I dispel it."

"We do not go into that room often and with our people moving deeper into the mountain I think the King would agree to it. Please make it safe. It would be horrible to return and have a broken and raided tomb."

Harry nodded and set to work. He added barrier after barrier then shut the door and warded it. A suction squelch sounded as the doors melted into a solid wall but where the doors use to be was still the intricately carvings of the door.

"Hopefully having no door there will fool most intruders. If not I have a few wards that will make it extremely difficult to break down that entire wall. If they do manage to get past the door then the really nasty wards activate. They will harm or even kill if someone tries to force entry so I would recommend that you spread word not to try to the rest of the dwarfs." Harry said after he finished thirty minutes later and much weaker from the power he placed in the invisible walls.

Cloin nodded still awed at the use of magic and the two walked back to the King's chambers after Harry retrieved a few treats from his trunk to regain some of his energy. Cloin seemed to enjoy the patsy he had chosen.

The next day Harry and Cloin were summoned to the King when he awoke. There Harry again checked the elder dwarf and gave him a fit bill of health. Then he and Cloin briefed him on what had happened to in the chamber and about the wards Harry placed on them as they left. The King was happy with the wards as he insisted he was shown them. Not much later the dwarfs started retreating deeper into the caves and Harry set out once again.

As Harry flew away he couldn't have known that the saving of the Arkenstone would cause so much disruption for Sauron and his forces. For the stone was an source of power that had been forgotten by all but the most ancient of beings that were alive when the gods still walked the lands beside the long lived elf and mortal man. It was a Simaril. A jewel made by and harnessed the power of the gods. Wars had been fought for the jewels and they were all thought to be lost or destroyed during the First Age. Now though one of the powerful jewels hid once more in the possession of the most powerful man on Middle Earth.

Without knowing how powerful some of the artifacts he had in his possession, Harry flew on his broom at top speeds back toward his home. With the dwarfs being attacked he was sure evil had spread else where.

He made a quick stop by Gondor to find that Boromir had left the day before on a quest to answer a dream that both he and Faramir kept having. 'Yes, war is near.' Harry thought to himself as he hurried home.

A/N:

Well things are starting to come together. I have had a few emails stating that Harry is too powerful even after my notes last chapter. Again most of that is because he is fighting the equivalent of muggles. Orks only strengths are that they are strong as a group or just plain strong in general. Harry can litereally sit back and cast some of the powerful spells he has been studying for the past years. That is another thing. Harry is by no means super wizard in all magics. He has a huge library of spells he can use. After all, he has spent over ten years studying spells. He has a passable knowledge in rituals. He by no means can create his own. He's just following instructions already set in place for him. He has a passable knowledge of wards but nothing that could compete with wards around a wizarding house, not to mention has no idea about ward breaking. So obviously there are many areas of magic that Harry is just 'normal' in. That's not to say that it won't change. He does after all have to be on par with Voldemort by the time all his travels are over. He has much to learn and spells, power and strength are just the tip of the iceburg.


	6. Chapter 6

_Previously on Buying Time:_

"_King Thorin?" Harry questioned and the ghost's eyes moved back to his. The eyes now held sadness and the wizard knew it was because he was sad to let the stone he loved so go. Harry continued thought. "King Thorin, your sword has been used in ages past to assist in victory in battle. You yourself used it to great effect before your passing. I ask that you let me take it to a great warrior who will use it again in battle as it was made for. Will you permit me to take the sword?"_

_The ghostly eyes looked at him accusingly and Harry could feel the unasked question. He slid his sword from its black leather sheath to show the ghost. "I Sir have my own sword already. It is my family sword and I would not wield another. Beside yours is not suited for my type of fighting. Please I know I ask much of you but we will need every weapon we can to defeat our foes in Mordor. I believe we have already lost Saruman if the word in Fangorn is true and he was a great ally and even greater foe."_

_Without knowing how powerful some of the artifacts he had in his possession, Harry flew on his broom at top speeds back toward his home. With the dwarfs being attacked he was sure evil had spread elsewhere._

Chapter 6

It felt good to be able to sleep in his own house for once. The fire warmed the air and kept the winter chill out. It had been six months since he had returned home and in that time Harry had tried to figure out a plan as to what he was going to do. As he realized that Middle Earth wasn't going to be attacked right away he had apparated back to Lake Town to give them word that the army they had mustered wasn't needed just yet. It didn't bother the warriors that had grouped together, more than five thousand strong. It gave them more time for training and recruiting. Harry told them he would be back when war broke out and their help was needed.

Boromir still could not be found and Denethor was becoming more and more paranoid. He nearly threw Harry out of the town for advising him to send for aid early before the battles began. As he left he talked with Faramir and did his best to spell his weapons and armor. Harry hadn't studied enchantments as of yet and it looked like it might be a while before he would have the time again. Unfortunately the spells would only last a few weeks before they started to fade. Harry also gave Faramir a few thousand of the arrows he had made as they were far superior to what they were using. Harry worried about the tension between Farimir and his father. It was clear the younger son was not what his father envisioned as his heir. Boromir was much more fitting. Still the hostility was never before shown in the way it was now. The Steward of Gondor seemed to want nothing to do with his youngest son only wishing Boromir back to the city. Something was going on but Harry didn't have time to figure it all out now. After clasping hands, Harry and Faramir wished each other safety Harry 'popped' back to his home.

The rest of the winter Harry spent his time reading up on the ritual to help him build his staff. If a war was coming he wanted the most powerful weapons he could use and the staff would not only give him more enhanced magic but also another physical defense for himself. It was very difficult and the rune sets that were required needed placement and structure to be exact or there might not be a Harry Potter to try making a second staff. The binding potion for the wood and cores was even more difficult then the one he brewed with the Mind Arts ritual. It would take nearly a year to brew properly and would require his presence nearly once a day. It was going to be hard and tedious but worth it later.

The process of making the staff was much like a ritual but not in the sense of the rituals he had preformed before. This one used his magic and blood to choose among all the parts he had collected. He did have to ingest some of the potion and use a silver knife to carve runes into both arms, since he was going to be using it with both hands, but for what reason he didn't yet know. He also had to cut runes down both sides of his face from just below his eyes down to his chest where they circled his heart.

As winter was creeping into spring Harry lay on his bed and thought about what to do. He knew war was coming fast and it would take months, perhaps even years, to perform the ritual. He wouldn't even chance trying to hurry the process as the backlash in the magic would be horrific with such a powerful process. Disheartened about the further wait and not having the weapon in the battles to come, he put aside his plans for the staff for another time and started researching different ways to gain more power.

As the early March snows warmed into April showers Harry knelt in his ritual chamber. He had found a power enhancing ritual in his multi-book that he had practiced the past three weeks strait for. With not having to sleep when he didn't want to it gave him plenty of time to practice the rune set he would have to carve onto his body. He also thought it would be a good way to practice for his staff ritual.

The first thing he needed to do for the ritual was to create a silver dagger and saturate it with as much of his magic as he was physically able to. It was still difficult to conjure silver for him but with work and his increasing powers it was becoming easier. He had become curious as to why a silver knife had to be uses and found that it was one of the most magic conducting metals known that can be found in somewhat large quantities. After conjuring it he spent an hour every day pouring his own power into the blade. By the time of the ritual it shown and pulsed with a crimson energy that as it expanded turned silver until it was a radiant silver color at the most outside edges.

He had used a piece of dull metal and a dye to practice transcribing the runes on his body for weeks and had them all perfect. Many of them he had used before as they dealt with power, transfer and magic but others he had to learn from scratch. The difficult part of carving runes was the fact that a line even five degrees off could change the meaning of said rune and cause a fatal cascading effect by putting the massive amounts of energy all rituals required into purposes that it wasn't meant for.

Confident he knew what he was doing, Harry sat in the middle of his ritual chamber mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. It would be no easy task as he remembered the pain from previous rituals. He crossed his legs and picked up the already glowing blade. He was slightly worried at the amount of power he was about to absorb. This ritual didn't really give him more power. Really it used the power he forced into the dagger to stretch and expand his already large core and channels. Therefore, once his magic built back up after the ritual it would have a larger space to do so and allow him to use more magic.

Clearing his mind and bringing only the instructions to the ritual to the front he began chanting in a beautiful language. The practiced words and phrases flowed from his tongue like silk lightly caressing the magic in the air and directing it. Harry slid the impossibly sharp knife into his flesh and used the demon-given occlumency to push the pain aside and continue. The flowing runes circled his chest and heart only leaving an inch of unmarred flesh on his chest. He could feel in a deep part of his mind his muscles screaming as the blade severed them. As the circle of runes grew farther and farther out the blade glowed more intensely. The words still flowed from his mouth and the magic gathered around the runes and into the blade. As the continued to cut the blade started shaking with power and even with all his enhanced strength it was difficult to hold it steady. Finally he finished his chest and started working down his arms. The blade made quick work of the flesh and soon a single line of runes ran down the entire length of his arm to the center of his palm. He repeated the process with his other arm. By the time he was finished he could barely hold the blade steady.

Carefully he placed the tip of the blade in the center of the unmarred section of skin on his chest. He didn't dare open his eyes as he could see the power in the blade even with them closed. Taking a final breath the last of the flowing language was uttered and he pressed the dagger into his heart up to the hilt.

Searing power flowed though his body like liquid fire. It coursed though his veins and into every part of him. The carved runes became hot as the blood burned away and silver glowing cuts healed. It was painful but not nearly as much as the demon's ritual. If he had to guess it was slightly worse than the Cruciatus. Minutes passed as the pain didn't stop and the only thing keeping him sane was the fact that he retreated into his mind then closed it off to try to escape the pain before it overwhelmed him. Finally, the pain and power started to decrease after ten minutes.

As the last of the power flowed into his body the silver dagger disappeared and Harry fell to the floor utterly drained. He didn't even bother trying to leave the room for hours. When he did feel like he could move to his room, he stumbled up the stairs, only just managing to make it to the bed before he passed out.

When he woke he was still feeling weak. He looked over his body and noticed that anywhere there weren't runes was covered in now dried blood. It was the sacrifice that was required by the ritual: blood, his life force, for the new magical power he now had. The blood would replenish as would his magic and he would be stronger for it. Stumbling from the bed he ate three of the elf meals as he was so hungry and needed so much energy. He also downed three blood replenishing potions to help along his healing. As the food and potions set to work he began to feel much better. He stood in front of the mirror he could still see the welts covering his chest and arms where the runes had been cut through the dried blood. They were still inflamed but were healing rapidly now that his body had energy to work with. He looked to his bed and grimaced as he noticed the amount of blood all over the sheets. He also had left a trail of blood all the way up into the main part of the house. "I guess not all of the cuts had healed." Harry rasped to himself.

He quickly moved to take a very long bath, probably more than one, to clean himself off. He could already feel his magical powers rejuvenating. It felt strange as though what use to be able for fill up a decent size part of his core now only felt like a drop of water in a lake. Harry could only wonder in amazement what he would feel like once he totally recuperated from his self imposed torture.

'Maybe now I will have the power to stand and face Riddle.' The young man thought to himself.

Remembering the ease Voldemort had created the animated silver hand for Wormtail, Harry thought he might be able to do something to the same level with a decade or so practice on subtlety and refinement. He was quickly narrowing the gap though, making the Chosen One all the more confident that one day he would be able to live in a world that would be free of dark lords out for his blood. It was a good feeling. As he dressed he noticed the griffin tattoo on his chest holding the two balls of energy and wondered again what it meant. Why had a different animal showed up on each of them? As he looked closer he noticed that the two balls of energy had lost their individual colors and were now each looked like balls of crimson flame tipped in silver.

'That's strange. I wonder when that happened.' He thought. There must be some significance to them changing colors. 'Maybe it just means the magic has totally merged into mine.' He didn't really know what to thing of that. He still felt queasy every time he thought of what he had done to Bellatrix. Was he sorry she was dead? No, not at all. But the absolute physical and mental torture that the woman must have gone though as her magic was seeping into Harry's body. Harry also didn't know how he felt that something that had been used for so much harm was now a part of him. It was different when he was able to see that the ball in the tattoo's hand was not a part of him but still Bellatrix. Now all signs of it being another person's was gone. Had the merging of the magics changed him? Made him more like Lestrange? Made him more like the monster that had ruined so many lives? Was that the reason he could kill without feeling now? Harry shuddered violently thinking of all the orcs, goblins, wargs and other creatures of the dark that he had dispatched without much feeling. The war, the one back home, had taken so much from him. Never did he think he would, or even could, one day kill another being. Much less with the efficiency he could do it now. For the first time Harry really understood that he was a different person then he was during his few years of schooling. He would never be able to be the same man he was before he made the decision to move into the Chamber of Secrets. The realization made the man feel empty, like his heart dropped into his stomach. Harry knew what it was that had changed, what he had lost, all because of a selfish man. The innocence that all human children are born with had been stripped from him. Stolen by a half blooded wizard who thought he was better than everyone else. It started the night his parents had died. It had taken nearly sixteen years for that night's effects to come to fruition though. Sighing deeply as he now keenly felt the loss of something so pure and good, Harry moved around the house to clean what he could.

It took nearly a full month for the welts on him to fade completely and his magic to stabilize again but now he felt amazingly powerful. He had practiced some and noticed that he was now being restricted by his wand. Not many would be able to tell and he sincerely doubted Riddle could, but by being able to see the magic while casting he could see the bottle neck that was now created by the magical conductor. Though since you can't feel magic trying to push to get out only pulled from you it would be impossible to notice the restriction without the Mage Sight Magic gave him. Hopefully it wouldn't cause problems in the war to come. It might even be helpful. After all, most of his foes had no magical defense. It would restrict the amount of magic going into each spell therefore allowing him to cast more spells.

Something else had been bothering Harry for the past few weeks as well. He could feel the darkness encroaching and knew it was now time to leave his house. The darkness had spread to his little home and now it was only his wards that kept the dark creatures of the night at bay. He had killed a great number of them as well trying to ensure that their evil wouldn't spread.

As he magically locked the house down and cast another ward to keep people out he double checked that he had everything. In his duster he had his shrunken trunk. He wore his mithril armor under leather pants and a knit black crew neck shirt, one of only two he had remaining. Dragon hide gloves held throwing knives and his wand. Dragon hide boots held his long hunting knife and finally his duster and trusty hat. Commanding his broom to his hand Harry jumped on it and started searching for Rivendell and Elrond.

After days of searching Harry found himself flying over the southern gates of Moria. He had searched long for any sign of the elf village where he believed a gathering of races occurred not too long before. A yell drew his attention to the south and he allowed his broom to glide over to the disturbance. Looking down he could see Boromir and Aragorn fighting what looked like a giant squid in a great polluted lake that use to be a marvelous lake by the edge of the gate. Before the water was much further from the edge of the rock face. Concentrating on the fight below Harry noticed four hobbits fighting and an elf and dwarf that each looked vaguely familiar. Finally Gandalf came into view only to flee with the rest of the company into the open gates.

Harry panicked knowing what was in those mines and before he could react the squid monster had pulled the side of the mountain down to block the passage, uprooting the two once marvelous holly trees that stood as ancient guards of the path. Knowing he had to help Harry, landed and apparated into the cave.

The 'pop' sounded incredibly loud in the dark cave. The only light was that of Gandalf's staff. All attention turned to him as he appeared out of thin air.

"You seem to have made a habit of doing that young Harry." Gandalf said as he recognized the young man in their midst.

"You looked like you could use a little help. Hello again Aragorn, Boromir. Good to see you again."

They all shook hands and clapped each other on the backs. Before they could get any further Harry drew his wand.

"I really don't thing you will be wanting to go that way." Harry pointed further into the caves. "And I don't like being trapped." Harry strode to the cave in and thrust his wand at the fallen rocks. The rocks exploded from the mouth of the cave catching the creature by surprise and the others only watched awed at the powerful wizard.

Harry stood next to the now open gate as the monster screamed its rage and attacked. A wave of the wand severed the tentacle and black blood sprayed over the water's surface. As the animal gathered its wits many other tentacles attacked and Harry drew his sword and attacked as well. A shield of silver sprung to life as one of the tentacles slammed down doing nothing to the wizard. The next second a torrent of fire burned off three appendages and left the face of the still screeching monster blackened.

"Calamari anyone?" Harry laughed as he continued fighting. None of the other knew to what the boy was referring to but they figured it must have had something to do with the now cooked tentacle lying on the beach.

Another wave and loose rocks all around him turned into spears with a command they were sent hurdling into the soft flesh, easily tearing though it. The creature ceased it's attack and thrashed around trying vainly to defend himself. Swinging the wand like a lasso, Harry pointed it at the creature and gave a giant pull. The huge squid/octopus mix flew through the air and smashed into the side to the mountain face. Finally Harry grabbed his wand by both hands lifting it to the sky then swished it down violently and left it pointing at the creature. From the wand came crimson and silver lightening that arced and split in vicious lines to the evil monster. The bolts hit the thing burning and electrocuting every part it touched. It spasmed and twitched as the bolts made deep burning gouges in the things flesh.

Finally it ceased moving and Harry stopped the curse. Seeing what was keeping the water from flowing he sent a powerful Reducto into the damn the thing had made. The wood and filth blew apart and the rancid water drained from the lake.

Harry looked at the defiled land around the foul lake in sadness. It had been so beautiful once. Determination filled him. He wouldn't let the evil take over like it had. Concentrating with all his might he slowly waved his wand across the entire area.

Aragorn had watched in amazement as Harry battled that monster. Never could he have imagined he was so powerful and skilled. Since he had met the youth, who still didn't look a day older than when they had met, he had been so humble and down to earth. Now to know he could wield such powerful magic he felt hope swell in his chest. Maybe they could win this after all.

The group watched as Harry slowly waved his wand from one side of the pond to the other and the amount of pure magic power that erupted from him allowed even them to see the air shimmer as the wave of magic moved across the lake. When the magic passed over a place the filth and foulness vanished along with the polluted water. As the last of the power was released Harry dropped to his knees exhausted.

Boromir and Aragorn were by his side in an instant. The dwarf and elf not far behind as they were still amazed at the now clean lake bottom.

"Are you alright Harry?" Asked a worried Boromir.

"I am old friend. Just tired. That last spell took a lot out of me. Just get me a little food and I will be fine shortly." Harry replied still panting.

Sam, one of the hobbits, moved to bring him some bread and jerky but Harry waved him off as he removed his trunk and resized it. The dwarf, elf and hobbits gasped as a now full sized trunk sat on the ground but the other had seen it before and smiled at the amazement on the other's faces. Harry removed the bottle of water he had gotten from Treebeard's hall and took a few swallows and immediately felt his energy returning. Passing around the refreshing drink he pulled out enough of the elf made dinners for everyone and passed them around.

"Come and look at this Pippin!" Merry said excitedly. As the other hobbit came around to view the trunk the hobbit continued. "There's a room inside the trunk packed full of food all ready to eat. We could have breakfast."

"And after-breakfast." Said Merry in amazement as he looked into the expanded trunk space.

"And before-lunch."

"And Lunch."

"Don't forget after-lunch."

"And then there's…" The hobbits went back and forth excited about how much food there was a possibility of eating.

"Hang on my dear Hobbits. Perhaps it would be better to ask our new friend if he would be willing to share. If he is, save what he has for when we are short on our supplies." Aragorn jumped in at Harry's stricken look at the two overly excited hobbits.

Quickly shaking off his daze Harry smiled at the two hobbits. "Well aren't you two a lively duo. I know two twins who could give you a run for you money though. I already know Gandalf, Aragorn and Boromir. So who might you two be?"

The shorter one with a more pointed face straitened comically and lifted his chin. "I am Perigrin Took, but just call me Pippin and this," He gestured to the somewhat rounder hobbit, "is Merry."

"Hallo good Sir." Said another hobbit stepping up nervously.

"I'm Sam." Harry nodded and smiled. He noticed all the camping and cooking supplies on the stocky hobbit's pack. "Why don't you place your gear in my trunk for the time being. I'm sure it would be easier hiking without the extra weight." Harry asked knowing all that extra weight had to be hard on the little man.

"Oh no thank you good sir I couldn't ask you to burden yourself further." Harry smiled mischievously at the hobbit. "Well," he said with a full blown smile, "if you won't let me carry it for you then let me help you out a bit." Harry waved his wand and Sam's pack glowed white for a moment. "Go ahead and pick it up Sam. Tell me if there is any difference."

The young hobbit moved over to his back and jerked it up, ready for the heavy weight of the cast iron skillets and all the food he had back in it. With a surprise yelp the hobbit fell over with the bag landing on top of him. Harry laughed at the scene and then nearly fell over at the mask of confusion on the hobbit's face.

"Well don't keep us waiting Sam. What happened?" Merry was bouncing.

"It weighs different that's what's different. It feels no heavier than a leaf." He quickly opened the back noticing that everything was still there and when he took out the pans they still weighed the same but when he placed them back into the bag it was feather light. The other hobbits ran over to test the pack and most of the others did as well.

"I could do that for all the bags if you like. It's a charm. It's not permanent but will make what ever I cast it on as light as a feather for a few months time. Should help in our travels."

After the amazement settled Harry cast the charm on all the companies packs. Gandalf noticeably sulked away after Harry charmed his bags. Sighing Harry pulled out some of the cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs and peppermint imps he had in his trunk for the group to share. After explaining about the candy he glanced over to Gandalf again. Still sulking. Shaking his head ruefully he knew things hadn't changed between the old man and him. He was hoping the time they each spent apart would allow the older mage to get over his jealousy. Obviously not.

Harry sat watch that night after explaining to the others that due to a spell he only needed to eat once again and he wouldn't need to sleep and wouldn't get tired. He readied his sword and wand encase anything tried to sneak up on them then leaned back against a rock he had cushioned with magic to prepare his nightly visual. As the others slid into slumber Harry read from one of his multi-books about the basics of enchanting. It was something he had been meaning to do for a while and now seemed to be as good a time as any. Every once in a while he would switch over to his heat vision to see if any unseen creatures were sneaking up on them. The night passed quietly.

Not long after the sun broke the horizon the company began to wake. Sam started breakfast, which Harry helped with by supplying a fire on the hard rock with seemingly no fuel. Sam smiled still amazed with the magic and set to his self-assigned task.

As the group gathered around to eat Harry spoke up.

"I still haven't met everyone in this little fellowship. To all here if you didn't know me before, I am Harry and it is nice to meet you all."

"I apologize Harry for not introducing myself earlier. I was so amazed at your skill with magic it must have slipped my mind. I am Legolas of the elves of Mirkwood."

"That's where I've seen you before." Harry stated brightly. "It was driving me nuts. Your fathers the King. We've met briefly before when I was visiting your father's realm."

"You too seemed familiar and now I know where to place your face. It is amazing that you haven't aged at all in the past twenty odd years."

"Yea well, what can you do." Harry shrugged off the comment and moved his gaze over to the dwarf. "You I know by name alone Master Gimli. I have spent time with your King in Lonely Mountain after you left on your quest."

"Aye I am Gimli and it is nice to meet you properly. You caused much fuss when you first arrived in our halls." The dwarf looked at him shrewdly.

"Fear not Gimli, I wear the armor made for me with pride anytime I leave my house." Harry pulled the tails of his shirt up revealing the gleaming mithril armor. "It has assisted in sparing my life a few times already and I thank your and your kin for their hard work and expert crafting."

All but Gandalf, Gimli and the hobbit not yet named looked in wonder at the amazing armor.

"Mithril." Gimli stated proudly. "It was made at the behest of our King after young Harry here broke the curse on old Smaug's resting place at the bottom of Long Lake. He retrieved all the treasure trapped in the foul worm's skin and scales and brought it back to us as payment."

"I have news for you Gimli." Harry said somberly. "Bad news. But it can wait for just a bit." The dwarf nodded as Harry's eyes slid over to the last remaining member of the Fellowship not introduced. He had noticed the hobbit didn't looked too marveled at the shirt of mithril and the thoughts of what Hermione had told him before he left again ran through his head.

"And you must be Frodo, bearer of the Ring of Power." Harry looked over the pint sized person critically. "You too have many surprises in store for the future. Keep them a secret for now though." Harry's eyes pierced into the hobbits soul. Frodo shivered as he squirmed under the intense gaze.

"May I see the thing?" Harry asked

"See what?" Frodo squeaked, unnerved by the young wizard.

"The Ring of course. May I see the ring that once sat on the hand of our enemy."

"Perhaps that is not the for the best Harry. The Ring entrances those who hold it to do its bidding." Aragorn cautioned.

"No need to fear. No one can bewitch me much less a Ring. My mind is just that. Mine alone. You might remember what occurred when last we rode together?" Harry smiled letting the Ranger know there were no ill feelings but kept his hand held out toward Frodo.

Shaking a little the hobbit pulled out a chain from around his neck. As he held it out to Harry a shiny gold ring loosely dangled from the end of it.

It seemed to happen all at once. There was a deep thump and Harry could feel the massive pulse of magic released from the ring as it tried to worm it's way into Harry's mind. The force was so strong it actually rocked Harry back slightly.

Throwing up his occlumency shields to their full strength the young wizard snatched the ring from Frodo and gazed murderously at the thing.

"So you think to use your compulsion against me do you Sauron." The words seethed from the young wizard's mouth. The magic in the air was so strong even the others could feel it. As Harry clasped the ring in his hand he could see the burning eye trying to gain access into his mind.

"I will bring about your end Sauron." Harry whispered to the eye but his voice held unbelievable power.

"Who are you _man_ to think you can slay me? Other's more powerful than you have tried to defeat me before and all have failed. No one can kill me. I will always return." A voice so horrid and dark came from the link with the ring. The others in the group shrank back at the voice of the most feared being in Middle Earth.

Harry pushed his magic back against the foul force coming from the ring. He pushed harder and harder, grimacing as he poured his power into his legilimency attack. Finally he slammed into the consciousness of the ring and burrowed though the waste and hate to find how the thing was made and how to destroy the thing. He smiled ferally as he found his answer and began to speak once more. "I know your secrets. I know how you keep coming back Sauron. You dark lords seem to always think the same ways. It is of little matter now however as we have what you so dearly seek. You placed a portion of your very soul into the thing." The eye seemed to shrink back as Harry smirked darkly. "That is why you tarry so to find a simple band of gold once more. Because you can't take your mortal form until you have it."

With that Harry released the ring and studied it more. It had become scalding during the conversation and now script flowed across the band. The ancient text of Mordor that darkened even the most cheerful places.

"This is a powerful object. It is a shame it must be destroyed." Harry said thinking of a ritual where he would be able to transfer the power to himself. He would have to find a way to get the piece of soul out of the ring first though and he had absolutely no idea how to do something like that. 'It might be best to just destroy it. Who knows what kind of unexpected problems the horcrux could cause. And why the hell do the bad guys always seem to place a part of their souls in objects to gain their immortality?' The young wizard wondered.

"How do we destroy it?" Asked Harry to anyone willing to answer not having been able to glean the answer previously.

"Elrond says it has to be tossed back into the fires where it was forged. Back into the fire's heart in Mount Doom ... in Mordor." Gandalf answered for him.

"Might you just be able to do your pop travel and take it there for us?" Asked Aragorn looking hopeful.

"No." Harry said and sounded as disappointed and agitated as the rest looked. "I tried to go into Mordor after I left Minas Tirith the last time. Sauron has some type of ward that I am unable to pass. I believe the first thing he did when he became powerful enough was to ensure that no man would be able to enter Mordor therefore keeping the ring away from Mount Doom."

"Bah, clever evil thing he is. That would have made things much easier." Gimli grumbled.

"The wards keep men out." Gandalf smiled slightly and looked to Frodo. "But I'd bet my beard it wouldn't keep a hobbit out."

They talked a while more about their plans and Harry told the news from Lonely Mountain and Gondor.

Thinking of it Harry pulled his trunk over and removed Orcist, the sword he had been gifted by Thorin, and passed it to Boromir.

Looking at the blade Gandalf jumped to his feet in a rage. "A grave robber now are you!"

"That's enough." Harry's wand flicked toward the old mage and an icy beam froze Gandalf in place. "It's time to stop being a jealous idiot about my ability with magic. It is entirely unbecoming of a person of your age and stature. I may be better manipulating magic than you but you are still the leader of this group, our group, if you will have me. I've as much right to try stopping Sauron as you. You are supposed to be the leader of us. Start acting like it."

"Now if you would let me explain instead of jumping to conclusions." Harry flicked his wand again, this time removing the hex from Gandalf. He set about telling them what had happed after the end of the battle and how he came into possession of the Arkenstone and Orcist. He explained how the ghost of Thorin himself had giving Harry his blessings.

Gimli was understandably upset about events but held no rancor toward Harry and Boromir for holding such great treasures that had once belonged to his King. Gandalf, still distant from Harry, explained about the sword's history and told them things even Harry hadn't known before. As Gandalf was telling the story of how they acquired the sword as well as his and Bilbo's little dagger, Sting, they heard one of the other hobbits a ways away calling for them.

Apparently some time during the explanations, Pippin and Merry had moved off to explore the now slightly muddy but clean lake bottom. As the rest drew closer they could see a great cash of weapons laying around where the middle of the lake would have been. There were all sorts, heaps and mountains it seemed, of different swords, axes, daggers and other things Harry wasn't sure what they were. There was even a beautifully made bow that was made out of something Harry, nor any of the others, could place.

"What should we do with all these and where did they come from?" Harry asked Gandalf. He had meant it when he said that the elder was the leader of this adventure. At least when they were all together.

"I believe some of these predate even Galadriel and the end of the First age." Gandalf said in amazement as he examined the bow Harry held. "As to how they came to be I do not know. Some seem new so they could have been used by the dwarfs to fight the monster but the rest…."

"It would be such a waist to leave these here. Look at how beautiful this little dagger is. It makes a perfect size sword for us hobbits. Better than the ones we found in that crazed tree at the beginning of our adventure." Pippin said as he looked at what appeared to be an elf made dagger with sparsely laid jewels.

"I agree with Pippin, Gandalf." Harry said as he lifted an amazing battle ax from the still damp mud. A quick cleaning charm later and a shining silver ax was displayed. "Gimli, come look at this."

The dwarf gazed at the ax in awe. "Mithril handle and blade with gold inlay, studded with sapphires, and the power it holds." The dwarf visibly shivered in excitement and awe. "Look, look lad! These runes are those of Power from ages long since passed. I agree with the youngerlings Gandalf. We should take what we need. They are no use sitting here on the bottom of a lake when they could be used hewing the heads of orcs. I can feel the yearning for battle this ax has and it is old, so old."

"I believe you are correct Gimli. Some of these weapons could be better used in our fight. But how to take them with us? We could each choose what we need but that still leaves us a problem."

"I know." Merry jumped in. "We could use Harry's trunk. He has rooms in there and can make it light and can make it small."

"Yes very good idea Master Merry." Legolas said as he looked at the shear volume of weapons. There had to be thousands of them. "Though I fear it will take another month to sort them all and clean them. I don't even know if there is enough room in our young wizard's trunk to carry them all."

"First pick out what you want." Harry said as he examined the runes in the white material along the bow shaft wondering what they could mean. Some looked similar to those Gimli described as power runes but much more flowy. It was definitely elf make. It was also still in perfect condition. Only the string needed replacing as it had rotted off with the passage of time. He also picked up a stunning knife to replace the cheap one he had bought back in his world and strapped to his boot. The large knife had some of the same runes of power that had shown on the ax Gimli now possessed making Harry think it was probably dwarf make.

After everyone finished choosing they met back by the shore as Harry requested. Each of the hobbits found one of the ancient long daggers that worked perfectly as swords for them. Legolas found a sword that was long and curved to add to his belt. Gimli had shed all his wood and steel axes and replaced them with duplicate designed ancient axes that were plentiful. Gandalf even found a short sword that looked remarkably like Glamdring's, his sword, match. While Boromir found a long knife, a pair of daggers and another short sword. In a pile next to him were two more of the ancient swords, a pair of elf make knives and two more beautiful daggers. Harry assumed they were for Denethor and Farimir.

A few waves of his wand later and the rest of the weapons that had lane on the bottom of the lakebed had been piled at Harry's feet. Another and they were restored and cleaned. Off to the side was a pile of sinister looking weapons that must have been used by an enemy from long ago. Liking how cool some of the weapons looked and thinking it would make a great collection for him, Harry decided to keep them, even the goblin ones.

As the rest looked at him strangely he only said, "A weapon is a weapon when you need it. And I'm thinking of starting a collection. Some of these things look wickedly evil." Then set to moving things in the trunk around until he had an open room and placed everything in it. In time that room in his trunk would become known as the Booty room as Harry continued compiling treasures from all over the world.

It was near night-fall as they finished so they set up camp by the tunnel once more. After a large dinner, supplemented by Harry's food and treats, the others set to examine what they had found that day and Harry sat back and read another section of a book about gaining more control over ones magic.

As everyone fell asleep Harry saw Gandalf stand and start to make his way over to him.

"I have thought about what you said earlier and wanted to ask your forgiveness regarding my actions to you of late. You are correct in that I was and still am jealous to a point. It is difficult for me to come to terms that someone so young has such a command over magic that in centuries I have not been able to achieve."

"Thank you Gandalf and I understand. Even back home I tended to outshine other fully grown wizards much to their displeasure. I think we could learn a lot from each other. I have books on how to make one more powerful if you want to read it."

"No lad, no." the old mage chuckled. "My time here is almost up. I can feel it in my bones. It is not time for me to attempt more power. I wouldn't mind trying to learn some of your spells if you don't mind."

Harry nodded happy. "Only if you show me how to fight with a staff. I'm trying to make my own."

"Gladly my boy, gladly." The old man smiled too.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Does your staff have any sort of core to help amplify you magic…" The two talked long into the night about things only wizards could understand and built the foundations to a great friendship.

Aragorn closed his eyes smiling as two of his close friends patched the rift that had kept them apart for so long.

Boromir pulled his eyes away from Frodo chastising himself once more for wanting to steal the ring and bring it home. He was confused and scared after all Harry had told him of the goings on back home.

AN: I'm glad to be done with this chapter to tell you all the truth. I don't much like it but I it is a filler for the more interesting stuff. My many thanks to my wonderful beta vampgoddesss. She is doing a wonderful job.

In this story Harry really isn't going to be changing events that happen. He is new to this whole 'new dimention' thing and doesn't want to screw everything up. That is likely to change with experiance and time as you will see toward the end of this story. Harry is after all a very curious youth. You know what they say though: Curiosity killed the cat.


	7. Chapter 7

Morning approached but darkness still claimed the skies. Harry sat watch, still reading from the giant leather and steel-bound book in his lap. He glanced around, then switched his vision to see heat signatures and took one last look. So used to seeing nothing, he nearly missed the little reddish dot on the far cliff wall across the now dry lake. He quickly switched back to his regular enhanced vision and concentrated on the same spot. The gray hues that he could see during the dark hours made it nearly impossible to see the creature slinking its way around the wall.

Moving slowly, Harry put away his book and packed his trunk. It was only a few more minutes until the sun rose, and, with that, so did most of the company. He would fake sleep until then to see what the creature would do. He slid his new knife from the holster on his boot and held it close to his leg in case he had to use it.

As he watched the creature watching him, Harry thought about the situation he was now in. Once again, he was part of a war. Only this time he was willingly placing himself on the front lines. The thought worried Harry more than a little bit. Over the years he had reviewed his life and discovered the mechanizations of his old headmaster. Dumbledore might have thought he was doing the best thing for everyone when he took control of Harry's life at the tender age of one. He might have truly believed the Dursleys were the only family he could have lived with. But something didn't mesh. There were things that didn't fall into place as simply as they had before.

How could the savior of the wizarding world be left with magic hating muggles? Even if no one ever knew, wasn't there some type of child protection service? Hell, they even had Figg living a few houses away. She had to have seen the signs of abuse on him all the time.

Harry recalled that most of his teachers never liked Dudley that much. How was it that he managed to never get into trouble? The teachers were required to report child abuse if it was even slightly suspected. Yet never had anyone ever reported anything. The whole situation just stunk of magic. And there was only one wizard with enough pull to ensure nothing was ever done with his situation. Dumbledore was behind the scenes every time something significant happened in his life. Harry knew the old man had kept a very close watch over him. He just let everything happen though. Too afraid of making another Tom Riddle if he let things continue. Too afraid hatred would take hold if he was allowed freedom of choice or the basic rights any human being was born with. The old mage had royally screwed up and Dumbledore had known by the end but had effectively handcuffed himself into the situation. If anything changed it could cause Harry to snap. If things stayed the same it could cause Harry to snap. It was a quagmire with no solution. So Dumbledore chose the easiest solution. He settled or the status quo, dooming Harry's life and childhood.

The green eyed mage shook his head to clear the thought that had run away with him. He desperately wished Dumbledore was alive to both force the answers from him that he desperately wanted to know and to also put him into the tomb himself, preferable alive, and toast the old fuck. Yes he definitely had some unresolved anger issues.

It turned out the creature didn't come any closer that night, which was good because half the time Harry was wandering his memories and not paying attention, and just before day break it slinked over the wall just out of view. Harry still watched the area it disappeared into intently as the rest of the camp awoke and set to the morning chores of cooking and cleaning up.

"What has your attention drawn so Harry?" Asked Gandalf as he moved over close. He had a feeling it was something he wouldn't want the rest to know.

"We are being followed. Some creature that looks like nothing I have seen before was crawling around the cliff face. It never came close and disappeared before morning. It worries me Gandalf. We will already have enough problems when we go into Moria."

"It is as I feared. The creature Gollum has found us. He has an unhealthy obsession with the ring and intends to get it back no matter the cost. Fear not as long as we are together. He is cunning in his ways but will not risk his life needlessly if he believes he has a chance to recover it at another time."

"That is the thing we were trying to find those years ago?" Harry asked in revulsion.

"Yes it is. And don't be too hard on the creature. Years ago he looked much like a hobbit. The ring seduced him, twisted him, and gave him unnaturally long life. He has lived so long with only the ring as a comfort he no longer knows how to live without it. I feel like Gollum will play a role in our tale before the end."

"If he does, I hope it is not for ill." Harry murmured to the aged wizard who only nodded his agreement. They moved away and helped with the morning preparations.

As he ate breakfast Harry glanced at the still living but now uprooted trees that once stood outside the gate. He couldn't stand to leave the once majestic trees as they were to suffer and die like everything else in the valley. Walking over to one he made a large hole deep enough for the roots to again take hold. He then used the now clean dirt from the hole he dug and the lake mud to fill the hole around the roots. Another charm later and the ground solidified holding the tree firmly in place. He moved over to the other tree and did the same to it. The second one however had a large limb that had been broken half way off when the water creature tore it from the ground. He used a severing charm to remove the branch and cast a charm on the bare wood that Professor Sprout had taught them in second year to keep broken tree branches from becoming infested or diseased. As he gazed down on the broken branch he remembered the words old Ollivander had spoken to him before he disappeared. 'Holly with a phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple'. He had an affinity with holly and the large branch might just work well with his staff so he placed it in his trunk. The others watched but just chalked up the strange behavior to being a wizard. Just before they moved into the mines Harry shot another 'reducto' at the dam on the top of the cliff that either had stopped the water or diverted it. The spell hit its mark and as the debris moved away, thousands of gallons of clean clear water poured down the wall into the lake bottom with a deafening crash. As they walked Harry told the group what he had walked in on those many years ago and the battle with the Balrog. Gimli refused to believe that the dwarfs could be driven from their mines so easily even though they passed skeleton after skeleton of dead orcs, goblins and dwarfs. Harry saw no need to tell them about the entombed Lord as he didn't think any of them would much care. Hopefully they would get through without ever having to see most of the destruction.

After a week of walking through the caves everyone in the group was ready to get back into the fresh air. Even Gimli was ready to see the sun but only because he tired of the stench of decay and it saddened him greatly to remember all the grandeur the halls use to hold that had now been ruined by the orcs.

Harry's suggestion that they try to mine some of the valuable mithril to make all of them suits of armor was shot down quickly by the rest much to Harry's consternation. He wanted to get more of the metal but they had to be quiet to keep from drawing attention. Personally Harry thought Gandalf was being a little too paranoid as the last time he had been in the mines the orcs had been nearly killed off by him and the dwarfs. Surely the Balrog would have taken care of the rest of them by now. After all, the thing was killing everything during the battle before.

Currently the company was sitting on a crossroads where the main tunnel they were taking branched into three others. Harry and Gandalf were trying to think of the way to go. Both had been that way before but with so much destruction it was hard to remember. Plus, at the time, Harry had spent far too little time in the caves to remember all but the most traveled halls.

He thought back on the past week. It had been surprising how quickly he and Gandalf became close friends. The old mage was everything good Albus possessed but held a much more realistic view of war and enemies. He did have the same meddling nature but Harry never heard of him going to the extent Albus did. They had spent their times during breaks practicing both magic and staff fighting. All it took was a quickly set silencing ward and they could be as loud as they wanted to be.

As Gandalf already had an affinity with fire and lightening spells, as well as having an amazing knowledge of magic and what it was, much more so than even Harry, the old mage was able to pick up a few new spells quickly. It astounded Harry even more to find out that the staff Gandalf used had no core for the magic, the crystal helped, but mostly it was just his own internal magic wielded by the staff and causing effects though it. They had spent long hours talking of magic cores and how they helped concentrate and control the wielder's magic.

The sound of rock grinding on rock jerked Harry from his musings and he jumped around drawing his sword and wand at the same time. Behind him, utterly terrified by the intensity of the powerful wizard, Pippin and Merry cowered into a room that had been hidden behind a half closed door.

"Steady! Steady!" Cried Gandalf to Harry as the younger wizard calmed down. As Harry lowered his guard the hobbits breathed in relief but looked sheepish at Harry's reproachful look. The stone door opened into a small room. Seeing that it was empty the group piled into the room as it gave them much better protection than the outside hall.

"There." Said Gandalf with his staff pointing to the middle of the floor. Before his feet they saw a large round hole like the mouth of a well. Broken and rusty chains lay on the edge and trailed down into the black pit. Fragments of stone lay near.

"One of you might have fallen in and still been wondering when you were going to strike the bottom," said Aragorn to Merry. "Let the guide go first while you have one."

"This seems to have been a guardroom, made for the watching of the three passages," said Gimli. "That hole was plainly a well for the guards use, covered with a stone lid. But the lid is broken, and we must all take care in the dark."

Pippin felt curiously attracted by the well. While the others were unrolling blankets and making beds against the walls of the chambers, as far as possible from the hole in the floor, he crept to the edge and peered over. A chill air seemed to strike his face, rising from invisible depths. Moved by a sudden impulse he groped for a loose stone, and let it drop. He felt his heart beat many times before there was any sound. Then far below, as if the stone had fallen into deep water in some cavernous place, there came a _plunk_, very distant, but magnified and repeated in the hollow shaft.

"What's that?" Cried Gandalf. He was relieved when Pippin confessed what he had done; but he was angry, and Pippin could see his eyes glinting. Pippin swallowed hard. Somehow he had managed to piss off the two wizards in his group in less than ten minutes.

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf growled. "this is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance. Now be quiet!"

Nothing more was heard for several minutes; but then there came out of the depths faint knocks: _tom-tap, tap-tom_. They stopped, and when the echoes had died away, they were repeated: _tap-tom, tom-tap, tap-tap, tom_. They sounded disquietingly like signals of some sort; but after a while the knocking died away and was not heard again.

"That was the sound of a hammer, or I have never heard one," said Gimli.

"Yes," said Gandalf, "and I do not like it. It may have nothing to do with Peregrin's foolish stone; but probably something has been disturbed that would have been better left quiet. Pray, do nothing of the kind again! Let us hope we shall get some rest without further trouble. You, Pippin, can go on the first watch, as a reward," he growled, as he rolled himself in a blanket

After that they spent many more days in the cave traveling. It had only taken a day's march to realize that Gandalf had chosen the correct passage. As the air cleared and became colder the spirits of the group lightened slightly.

Finally after eleven days and nights they came upon a hall that had the early morning light shining though a shaft in the ceiling.

"We are getting close now." Harry said to himself. He could start to make out places from long ago memories. He and Gimli told the hobbits stories as they rested about how the halls use to be filled with gold and light and splendor.

"Are there piles of jewels and gold lying about here still?" Asked Sam after listening to one such story.

Gimli was silent. Having sung his song he would say no more.

"Piles of jewels?" said Gandalf. "No. The orcs have often plundered Moria; there is nothing left in the upper halls. And the tunnels down in the deep places: they are drowned in water - or in a shadow of fear."

Harry kept to himself that he had actually been the one to plunder the halls of all the gold and jewels as he tired to find a way out. He had also found much in the 'deep places' during his expedition. He doubted the orcs were able to retrieve much at all unless they learned to mine the materials themselves.

"Then what do the dwarves want to come back for?" asked Sam.

"For mithril. For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elfish name. Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now beyond price." Gandalf said looking toward Harry who all knew had an entire suit of it. "Bilbo had a corselet of mithril-rings that Thorin gave him. I wonder what has become of it? Gathering dust still in Michel Delving Mathom-house, I suppose."

"WHAT?" cried Gimli, startled out of his silence. "A corselet of Moria-silver? That was a kingly gift!"

"Yes," said Gandalf. "I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the whole Shire and everything in it."

Frodo said nothing, but he put his hand under his tunic and touched the rings of his mail-shirt.

Harry moved over to him. "Don't tell anyone you have it on. Save it as a surprise for when you need it. And don't think of the price."

Frodo gapped at Harry who had moved off as quickly and quietly as he had come and wondered just how in the world the wizard had known while he had never shown anyone.

As the ceiling began to show more and more signs of the outside sky the group moved on.

"I shall be glad," said Gimli. "I have looked on Moria, and it's very great, but it has become dark and dreadful; and we have found no sign of my kindred. I doubt now that Balin ever came here." Dread filled Harry's chest as he heard the name. He remembered very well the inscription on the tomb. If he remembered correctly they would be coming upon it very soon as well.

"Gimli, I need to talk to you." Said Harry urgently. He was too late however as they had come upon the solid oak doors. The hobbits rushed in as always, not realizing the dangers of doing so. As the others followed their feet disturbed a deep dust upon the floor, and stumbled among things lying in the doorway whose shapes they could not at first make out. The chamber was lit by a wide shaft of high in the further eastern wall; it slanted upwards and, far above, a small square patch of blue sky could be seen. The light of the shaft fell directly on the table in the middle of the room: a single oblong block, about two feet high, upon which was laid a great slab of white stone.

"It looks like a tomb," muttered Frodo, and bent forwards with a curious sense of foreboding, to look more closely at it. Harry moved into the corner feeling horrible for what he was sure he was about to see. He had no idea that Balin had been Gimli's kin or he would have told him before now. Gandalf came quickly to his side. On the slab runes were deeply graven: "Here is written in the tongues of Men and Dwarves: Balin Son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.

"He is dead then," said Frodo. "I feared it was so." Gimli cast his hood over his face. Harry stayed in his corner watching over the group. He knew how acute the pain of loosing a loved one was maybe more so than the rest. So he left Gimli to his grieving as did the rest of them.

The room was exactly the same as he had left it all those years ago. Dwarf weapons were scattered amongst with the orcish blades. Skeletons now took the place of the once dead bodies. Even the old scribe was still there holding a now rotting and dusty book to his chest as Harry had left him.

"What has happened here?" Asked Sam as he looked around. It was easy to spot the signs of battle the room held even after all those years. Gandalf spotted the book but Harry stayed his hand.

"Don't, he had protected the book with his life when I found him initially." The others stared in shock. Well except the hobbits who still didn't have a clue as to what Harry was saying. "I am so sorry Gimli. Had I known you were kin with Balin I would have told you right away." Harry looked around to make sure he had everyone's attention. "After I left Lonely Mountain and returned the gold to the dwarfs that Smaug had stolen I came back here to see if I could perhaps help mine more mithril. I figured with my help it could be done quicker and I might be able to make a profit from it or have it shaped into more mail or a weapon. I don't really know. When I arrived most of the fighting was over and only deep within the halls were there still resistance. I tried to assist but there were many foes. I did managed to find a few gems, some gold and mithril that had yet been plundered." He didn't bring up that he had taken nearly all of it. He didn't think Gimli or any of the others would think too well of him. "I figured it would better me have it than the orcs." Gimli nodded approvingly. "I was found and battled my way though a troll and many orcs. After that I escaped them and found my way here. Everyone was dead by the time I arrived and I read though that book." Harry pointed at the book Gandalf was going to pick up. "Balin had passed nearly two months prior and the rest were steadily being overwhelmed. Every messenger sent was waylaid during their travels for help. What the book didn't say was that their mining awoke an imprisoned Balrog who used what powers he was given during his making to create sevents: Goblins. It sent his goblins to assist the orcs and when sufficiently removed from his stone prison, joined the battle himself. I know a Balrog inhabits this place because I have fought him and came out the victor. During our battle he landed a some blows with his fiery whip but my coat is impervious to fire being made of dragon hide." That news shocked the rest as well. "I was not injured because of this. It still left some nasty welts though. I used my own whip of molten quick-silver and tore off one of the things wings. After the battle I chained the beast and cut off one of its horns and pulled four of its fangs and left it. I am sure it has escaped since then and I do not wish to come across it again."

"A Balrog!" Legolas who had been particularly quiet for the journey spoke. "It will be an ill fate to cross paths of one of Morgoth's beasts."

"Yes, let us hope we do not come across the it. Even with Harry's magic I fear the thing may now be in Sauron's service. Who knows what it may have been outfitted with." Gandalf looked from the room back into the hall. "Come I know where we stand. We should leave by the eastern arch of the hall, and ear right and south, and go downwards. The Twenty-first Hall should be on the Seventh Level, that is six above the level of the Gates. Come now! Back to the hall!"

Harry looked incredulously at the old wizard and Gandalf smirked back at him. The words had hardly left the old mage's mouth when there came a great noise: a rolling _Boom_ that seemed to come from the depths far below, and tremble in the stone a their feet. They sprang towards the door in alarm. _Doom, doom_ it rolled again, as if huge hands were turning the very caverns of Moria into a vast drum. Then there came an echoing blast: a great horn was blown in the hall, and answering horns and harsh cries were heard further off. There was a hurrying sound of many feet.

"They are coming!" Cried Legolas.

"We cannot get out," said Gimli.

"Trapped!" cried Gandalf. "Why did I delay? Here we are, caught, just as they were before. But I was not here then. We will see what…"

"That's right Gandalf. WE will have to see what we can do, TOGETHER!" Harry cried as he removed his sword and wand from their holding places. He could already feel his power and adrenaline coursing though him and the all too familiar clarity that came during battle removed all unnecessary thoughts from his mind.

"There is no sound outside here yet," said Aragorn, who was standing by the eastern door listening. "The passage on this side plunges straight down a stair: it plainly doesn't lead back toward the hall. But it is no good flying blindly this way with pursuit just behind. We can't block the door. Its key is gone and the lock is broken, and it opens inwards. We must do something to delay the enemy first! We will make them fear the Chamber of Marzarbul!" he said grimly, feeling the edge of his sword, Anduril.

Heavy feet could be heard just outside the door now and Harry threw himself in the gap and started firing curse after curse. Waves of fire and bolts of lightening lit the entire chamber and hundred of orcs fell to the onslaught but more and more just pushed over them. They were now coming from above as well and arrows thudded all around him.

Getting an idea he summoned every arrow the orcs had and then banished them back into the mass of coming fiends. Harry and Boromir, who was now beside him, smiled grimly as line after line of orcs fell. Harry used all his skill and speed to battle back the host of invaders giving Gandalf the time he needed to prepare the spells he would need.

A yank pulled Harry down to the ground and back into the room as a giant club slammed into the door just where the wizard's head would have been. The doors slammed closed and Aragorn and Legolas ran to block the doors.

Harry looked down to see himself on top of Boromir who had his arms around Harry's waist from having pulled him out of the way just in time.

"I owe you one my friend. I don't care what armor I wear a troll club to the head would have taken care of me."

"Just return the favor one day and we'll call it even." Boromir smirked as he quickly got up and readied his sword.

The two at the door were having a hard time as the troll's foot was already inside and it was trying to get further in. Gimli seemed to throw off his grief and now a blazing anger took over.

"Let them come. I'll show them there is still one dwarf in Moria which still draws breath."

Harry ran to the door and brought his sword down on the trolls foot with a resounding _clang_ as the blade just glanced off the greenish scaled foot. The force jarred Harry's arm and he moved out of the battle and looked at the sword and his arm. Everything seemed fine but there was now a large notch taken out of the blade. He didn't have time to worry about it then as he heard the troll howl in pain while hearing "For the Shire" Yelled from Frodo's mouth. His Sting was sunken deep into the trolls foot having cut though the thick hide easily. Harry stared incredulously at the site for a moment before he remembered the dagger was of old elfish make.

The blow only gave the group a slight pause before the entire door was knocked off it's hinges and two huge trolls and a rock giant pressed into the large room. Harry had never seen a rock giant before but the name certainly fit the description. It was lumpy and had muscles upon muscles that were so large and hard they looked like rocks.

A quick glance told him that Gandalf was able to use his new skills to take on one of the trolls himself, while the rest were having a time with the other troll. He alone was left to deal with the giant. Wasting no time he launched a explosion curse at the beast. All it did was anger the giant which started swinging a club capped with a huge boulder at him. With his increased strength he was able to fend off the blow, just barely, and set out with more and more dark curses. Nothing he was casting could get though the thick giant hide. They were much like the giants at home where the spells seemed to just rebound off the thing.

He could tell things were not going well behind him from the screams and shouts but he dared not divert his attention even a second for fear of being clubbed. Fear started seeping into him as he reverted to darker and darker spells. Spells he still needed the incantation for as he had no want to use them for practice before. With a jab of his wand he bellowed '_Novus Incendio_'. The Dragon's Breath curse was aptly named as a blast of fire erupted from the wand so hot the stone by where he was fighting started to melt. The curse caught the entire side of the giant that was holding the club and in a mere second had turned it to nothing but ash. The skin of the giant was charred and blistered. In places the flesh had cracked and drops of blood fell to the floor. All other activity in the room ceased as everything stared at the massive source of heat from the other side. The Fellowship already being slightly use to the power Harry wielded used the enemy slip to their advantage.

Gandalf shot lightening from his staff then slashed Glamdring across the trolls middle. The ancient elfish blade bit deep into the belly of the beast and the lightening blasted it back through the door where it didn't get back up. He turned to help with the other troll.

Harry brought forth a sand storm again realizing that he needed magic that could produce physical damage before they hit the giant instead of the magic in beam that didn't take effect until the beam entered the flesh of the opponent. The seventy plus mile per hour sand blasted against the charged flesh of the giant ripping it off and biting deep into the now exposed soft tissue. He was just about to transfigure a large stone that had been knocked off the wall when he heard the yell from across the room.

Harry quickly finished off his giant after turning the stone slab into a huge pike and banishing it into the now exposed soft tissue. He quickly looked over to see what had happened and found the only troll still alive had driven a troll sized spear into Frodo's chest. Harry quickly pushed the panic down as he remembered the mithril corselet the hobbit wore and concentrated on the troll. A whip of molten quick silver wrapped itself around the things neck before it even finished sneering at Frodo and with a quick jerk the super heated material burned right through and took the head off the thing. It fell back with the jerk and crashed to the floor.

"Frodo!" Sam yelled as he ran over. Aragorn was already there and the rest looked devastated.

"I'm… all right… Sam." Came the gasped reply as Frodo opened his eyes and moved to sit up.

"How did you survive. That blow would have skewered a wild boar." Aragorn asked in amazement.

Frodo moved aside his shirt to reveal the mithril armor nearly exactly like Harry's who was in the process of moving over to him.

"Well, you are just full of surprises Master Baggins." Gimli chuckled.

"Mithril…" Legolas looked longingly at the shirt.

"Don't move Frodo. The shirt will have stopped the bite but the blow could have still done something. Harry quickly waved his wand over the downed hobbit as Boromir and Gandalf stood watch over the fallen doors. When the hurried diagnostics showed bruising Harry helped the little person to his feet. "Well I guess Hobbits are made out of stronger stuff than I first thought." Harry jibed with a smile as he ruffled Frodo's hair. He then moved over to the downed giant and started filling conjured vials with it's blood.

"What are you doing now Wizard?" Questioned Gimli wondering why anyone would want giant blood.

"I'm going to give it to you for Christmas Gimli." Harry shot back then laughed. "Really it is used in some potions I can make. It's right rare and probably one of the most expensive ingredients there are. Very hard to come by." He didn't mention he wanted it for a strengthening potion he wanted to make. He finished quickly while the others recovered and prepared to move down the side tunnel. As he slid the sword back into the scabbard he could feel the nicks and chips that had occurred during the battle.

'I guess after that first nick the charm was disrupted.' Harry thought to himself as he stowed away the massive amounts of blood he had been able to acquire. And run though the door followed lastly by Gandalf who held him back.

"Seal the doors and strengthen them. Give us enough time to flee." Harry could hear the old mage mumbling words of power and he set to work himself casting spells and wards to keep the orcs from pursuing.

A red glow seeped in from underneath the door and heat started filling the small stair well. A massive something slammed against the door and the magical backlash threw both wizards back and down the stairs.

"Well, well! That's over!" said the old wizard struggling to his feet. "We have done all we could. But I have met my match, and will have and have nearly been destroyed. You I fear did not fair well either my boy. But don't just stand there! Go on! You will have to do without me for a while: I am rather shaken. Go on! Go on! Where are you, Gimli? Come ahead with me! Keep close behind, all of you!"

They stumbled after Gandalf and after an hour they had gone a mile, maybe more. They descended to the bottom of the seventh flight when Gandalf halted.

"It is getting hot!" he gasped. "We should be down at least to the level of the Gates now. We should be there soon."

Gimli took his arm and helped him down to a seat on the step. "What happened away up there at the door?" he asked. "Did you meet the beater of the drums?"

He looked to Harry who just shrugged. "I don't know," answered Gandalf. "But I found myself suddenly faced by something I have not met before. I could think of nothing to do but to try and put a shutting spell on the door."

"As I stood there I could hear orc-voices on the other side: at any moment I thought they would burst it open. I could not hear what was said; the seemed to be talking in their own hideous language. All I caught was _ghash_: that is 'fire'. Then something came into the chamber- I felt it through the door as did Harry I believe." Harry nodded as well. "The orcs themselves were afraid and fell silent and then the thing proceeded to nearly destroy the door and your two wizards."

"What could it be. What could so powerful?" asked Pippin.

"It was the Balrog." Harry said softly. "I have faced it before and know the beast's feel. It is stronger now, much more so, or has been replaced by another."

Silence descended on the group.

"How are you feeling Master Frodo?" Sam asked.

"I feel as if I had been caught between a hammer and an anvil." He said no more. He found breathing painful.

"Here," Harry pulled out his trunk and pulled two vials out and handed them to the hobbit. "The first will help with the soreness and the second will restore your energy. Speaking of which." Harry moved to a different compartment and pulled the silver decanter. He pulled the lid off and took a long drought from the bottle then passed it to the next in the group. The Ent wash water sang though him as it refreshed and strengthened him as well as the others. He could hear the sighs as they took their fill and passed it along.

After packing everything back up and Frodo moving noticeably better they set off once again. Now rested and refreshed.

"That has to be the best drink I have ever had." Legolas said, again full of life.

They had just about made it to their destination when the halls around them started glowing with a red light. As they prepared to turn a corner Gandalf stopped them and peered around the wall. His face was lit by a red glow and he quickly stepped back.

"There is some new devilry here," he said, "devised for our welcome, no doubt. But I know now where we are: we have reached the First Deep, the level immediately below the Gates. This is the Second Hall of Old Moria; and the Gates are near. But come look." They all gazed around and saw a large hall, much larger than they had slept in the night before and fire licked out around the pillars and walls.

"Could this be anything other than the beast?" Boromir questioned.

"Maybe but we must go this way. Follow me and be quiet as you can." Gandalf lead the way into the new chamber.

They could hear the drum beat even now and all thought of quietness fled them as they raced toward the Gates

"Look ahead!" called Gandalf. "The Bridge is near. It is dangerous and narrow."

As Harry rounded the corner he saw a black chasm with no bottom in sight even though it was lit with fire.

"Lead the way, Gimli!" Gandalf called as orc arrows sailed down. Harry again turned the arrows back onto their caster as dozens of orcs fell into the black abyss. Again and again he did this as the rest of the company safely crossed and only left him and Gandalf on the bridge.

"Go Gandalf, I will hold them off until you are safely across," yelled Harry as he pushed the elder toward the bridge of Khazad-dum.

Out of the passage the company had just left from came a dark figure streaming with fire. The orcs yelled and poured over stone gangways even more trolls placed over the fissures of fire that now spewed from the earth. Everyone stared at the monstrosity before them. The orcs quieted and retreated away from the fiery figure. Legolas and the hobbits shrunk away from the beast. Gimli followed after cursing at the beast, 'Durin's Bane!', then moved away with the other. Gandalf could only stare, mouth agape and leaned on his staff as if defeated. Harry could only admire the new additions to the beast. The mangled wing had been reattached with some dark magic and the beast wore a disgusting black armor looking like blood solidified. It roared when it saw Harry and started its charge drawing both flaming whip and blade.

Then Boromir raised his horn and blew. Loud the challenge rang and bellowed, like the shout of many throats under the cavernous roof. For a moment the orcs quailed and the fiery shadow halted. Then the echoes died as suddenly as a flame blown out by a dark wind, and the enemy advanced again.

"Over the bridge!" cried Gandalf, recalling his strength. "Fly! This is a foe beyond any of you. I must hold the narrow way. Fly!"

Harry, Aragorn and Boromir held their ground, side by side, behind Gandalf at the far end of the bridge. The others halted just within the doorway at the hall's end, and turned, unable to leave their leader to face the enemy alone.

It took no more for Harry to be pulled out of his admiration of the beast before him. Now clad in armor with both weapons ready for use and wings stretched like the span of a great bat it was a most intimidating sight. Both sword and wand seemed to leap into his hand as if by magic. A burning lust for battle sang though him, a side effect from one or more of the rituals he had undertaken no doubt. His magic answered his call, singing though the magical arteries that had grown over the trying years of toil. His opponent was ahead of him. Kill or be killed. Bright green flames burned in his eyes and he started cursing the thing. Magic poured from the wand sending an array of curses never before seen in Middle Earth. A cyclone of water lifted from the ground under the Balrog's feet as he continued throwing cutting curses at the beast. As the water died down the black slimy creature was revealed and a powerful wind washed away the smoke and shadows. Still nothing could stop the advancement of the Balrog. Harry intensified the curses now using explosions and destruction curses. They met the black armor and were sent careening into other parts of the cavern killing more and more orcs that were watching from what they thought was safety.

Throwing personal safety aside and shutting his ears from Gandalf's protests, Harry charged the beast and brought his wand down. Again the luminescent quicksilver whip whistled though the air and crashed onto the armor only to break apart leaving no damage.

Harry had no time to ponder the event as the flaming sword came toward him. He quickly raised his own sword to deflect the blow. He might be stronger than any human was meant to be but he was no match for the Balrog in a duel of physical strength. The air lit with magical and flaming sparks and backlash as the blades collided. The flaming sword shattered into thousands of pieces and the Balrog was thrown back. Harry's sword, battered from previous battles, couldn't take the massive strike. The magic contained in the blade was released in a white light that exploded toward the attacker then the blade too shattered only leaving the hilt in Harry's hand.

Almost reverently Harry knelt over the shattered remains. He lifted a multitude of pieces in each hand and did nothing as Boromir and Aragorn pulled him back across the bridge to relative safety. He had precious few pieces of his family left. Hell, he wasn't even in the same world he was born and his parents had died in. He stared at the broken pieces of mirrored steel in an almost catatonic state.

He was brought to as he heard a booming voice full of power. The Balrog had reached the bridge but it seemed that the magic that was released from Harry's sword had blown the armor to shreds. It lay further up the hall where the creature must have shed it before renewing it's attack. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, still leaning on his staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.

"You cannot pass," he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! YOU CANNOT PASS!"

The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but he darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm.

"Let me go!" Harry shouted to the two holding him. "I can help him now that the thing's armor is gone. Let me go!" Harry struggled against the two but somehow couldn't free himself. He could only watch in horror like the others as the massive beast approached his friend and mentor. 'Not again!' he cried in his head over and over.

From out of the shadow another red sword leaped flaming.

Glamdring glittered white in answer.

There was a ringing clash and a stab of white fire. The Balrog fell back and its sword flew up in molten fragments. The wizard swayed on the bridge, stepped back a pace, and then again stood still.

"YOU CANNOT PASS!" he said again.

With a bound the Balrog leaped full upon the bridge. Its whip whirled and hissed about, ready to lash out at the old wizard before him.

At that moment Gandalf lifted his staff, and crying aloud he smote the bridge before him. The staff broke asunder and fell from his hand. A blinding sheet of white flame sprang up. The bridge cracked. Right at the Balrog's feet it broke, and the stone upon which it stood crashed into the gulf, while the rest remained, poised, quivering like a tongue of rock thrust out into the emptiness.

With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard's knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. "Fly, you fools!" he cried, and was gone.

The fires went out and the darkness fell. The Company stood rooted with horror staring at the pit. A anguished cry of "NOOOOO!" tore from Frodo's lips and it seemed to encompass the sorrow and pain of the entire group.

An arrow rang off Harry's chest and more started striking rocks around them. "Lead them out Aragorn. I will bring up the rear guard." The young wizard assumed the lead for the moment and he pushed both he and Boromir toward the final hall before the Gates.

Anger and hatred flared in the young wizard's voice more than it ever had before and the two men only looked back once before they fled. Around Harry was a towering flame of crimson lined in silver caressed his body and they watched as he closed his eyes then they were around the corner and running toward the Gate where light poured fourth with a dazzling brightness.

There was a guard of orcs crouching in the shadows behind the great door post towering on either side, but the gates were nowhere to be seen. Aragorn smote to the ground the captain that stood in his path and Boromir, Gimli and Legolas assailed the others. Even the tiny hobbits managed to take down those trying to flee. Those that could, fled in terror of the wrath that had assaulted them.

As they exited the gates they could feel the ground at their feet start shaking and wails of terror and pain could be heard deep in the mines. Thundering steps, grinding stone, and ear-splitting war cries from some monstrosity could be heard giving chase deeper and deeper into the caves.

Harry staggered around the wall into the hall and managed to make it to the Gate before collapsing to his knees, having to be helped a safe distance from the cave.

A/N:

Thank you all for putting up with me. I want to send out a special thanks to the reveiw of anonymous user JC for the absolute riot of a review you posted. Only one word of advice: If you want to send flames have the balls to at least use your real handle. So all, either reveiw because you like it or flame me. I always need a good laugh and reading reviews from the bottom most idiots in our society always picks me up in the morning. It makes me realize I have to work extra hard to make up for the idiots that are out there. You know who you are JC. Bring on the flames. We can have a bon fire. I'll even bring the smores.

Again a huge thank your to LadyVamp for her tireless efforts to make this a readable story. She needs even a bigger thanks than normal for bataing this just after taking her finals. Talk about dedication!


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